We are the pride of all Didsbury!!

Following last weeks victory against Knutsford, Bedians 2’s had the mouthwatering clash with local rivals Toc H. Having been narrowly beaten earlier in the season every player knew how crucial this game was, with a lot at stake and with both teams close in the table it was always going to be a tight contest.

Captain Stevie Cook was in an extremely feisty mood and had the team fired up from the first whistle. Early pressure from the Bedians kick off resulted in a solid platform set by the forwards for Ben Rogerson to launch the back line. A half gap was exploited and David ‘Lassie’ Denton managed to skillfuly get the ball out of the tackle for Richard'Bertie'Bassett to score out by the touchline following swift handling across the back line. The conversion was missed though. Toc H came back strongly but some great work in the tight by the forwards resulted in many turnovers and clearances, only for Toc to mount more and more attacks. Bedes were boyed by an amazing run from (The Cat) Anthony Hargreaves who collected a spilled ball by Toc, the result of a hard and heavy tackle put in by Ash(the hand of god)Thomas, straight up the centre of the pitch only to be halted by 3 Toc players. From the ensuing ruck Bedians counterattacked from just inside their own half when a lightning break from the ‘Minature Malaysian’at flyhalf for the day saw the ball go to Vince‘Pie Thighs’Betty for what would have been a contender for try of the season(if he had not fallen over). The move was frustratingly halted when a pass was judged to have gone forward. Toc finally made use of their superior possesion and weight and were awarded a penalty after sustained pressure. Toc seemed to gain momentom after this and forced a handling error from the restart deep in the Bedian 22. From this scrum, veteran Pete Wilde led his men sideways then forward and with the Bedians pack tiring after an energy sapping 10 min tryline defence, they failed to withstand the repeated atacks by the Toc forwards and let in a try out by the cornerflag. Bedians ended the half on the backfoot and gave Toc a soft penalty to lead the game 5-11 just after the half.

This was to be the last backwards step a Bedian took though and in the guttsy second half more good work from the lineout led by stalworts Phil Parker and Ben Dawson allowed our Malnourished Malaysian to waltz through untouched from the 22 and score under the posts. This try was converted to leave Bedians leading 12-11 with 20 minutes to play.
David Denton slotted a further penalty to move the score up to 15-11 and dogged defence along with good tactical play(nice "hook" in the scrum Ash!) and some territorial kicking allowed Bedes to run out winners in a hard fought and physical match which predictably started to get a little naughty towards the end when Toc realised they could not break the Bedians resolve, which is always fun especially when you are winning against Toc on their 1st team pitch!

Bedians will now be looking to carry on the form they’ve shown in the past fortnight against Crewe and Nantwich who are tied on points and will be looking for revenge after Bedians victory in a tight fixture early in the season.

All the team send best wishes to our veteran Jim(The Darkness)Bloor who was forced to hobble off during the first half with what has turned out to be a broken ankle. Although he probably deserved it for wussing out of his "long" awaited debut at flanker! That'll learn ya' for playing in the backs your entire career!