Bedes Continue Cup Crusade

Over recent years the words 'Bedes' and ‘cup run’ have hardly been synonymous, so much so that many of us had forgotten we were in the cup until the fixture was confirmed in the previous week. After plans had fallen through to arrange a 3rd XV match, captain James Kington had the privilege of turning players away, including telling Catman to ‘take his dog for a walk’ instead.

With much of the team match talk surrounding the need for maximum focus and effort, Bedes began the match in a most disappointing manner. With Lymm kicking off the first half with the strong gale on their side, Bedes soon found themselves under pressure as an early penalty clearance was carried back into the 22 by the wind. A resulting lineout steal led to an early try for the visitors. At this point Bedes began to pull their act together, playing sensible rugby to suck the Lymm forwards in before releasing the ball to our dangerous midfield players, with Steve Cross, Paul Makinen and Emmett Reid all making large gains with ball in hand. After the backs had made the yards to carry the ball into the opposition 22, the forwards got in on the act before Harry Allen carried the ball over the line to level the scores after a clever offload from Rick McEwen.

Stern words followed from Kington, serving to further spur the forwards on, and Bedes continued the half with purpose, but found themselves pegged back by some astute wind-assisted kicking and strong running from the younger Lymm players, eventually leading to a second try for the visitors. The boys in blue found themselves close to levelling the scores just before half time, as they applied pressure in front of the Lymm posts, with Jack Newsome finally grounding his own kick but the score was chalked off for a knock-on.

At the interval the home side knew they had a great chance to win, only 5 points behind with the wind at their backs. With a full bench at his disposal, Kington was able to make changes to the pack as well as the enforced removal of fly-half Steve Cross with a shoulder injury. With many of the replacements unlucky to be starting on the bench, they proved it as they came out with a real determination to prove themselves.

Straight from the kick-off Bedes were asking all the questions, but were lucky to level the scores: a knock on at the lineout was missed by the referee, but quick thinking from Newsome saw him hack the ball into space, and great pressure by replacement hooker Alex Porter forced the steal which was then hacked through for second row Ryan Keyes to pounce on over the line. From this point Bedes looked to take a stranglehold in the match but were repelled by a determined Lymm defence. This defence eventually succumbed as ‘Dopey’ Jim Blair drove over the line to give the home side a slender 5 point lead.

Further pressure from the hosts led to a penalty in front of the posts, well-dispatched by replacement fly-half and part-time talent show compere Jim Bloor to stretch the lead to 8 points. With the margin now two scores, Bedes took their foot off the gas, and it proved costly as a fantastic break from Lymm took them into the home 22, and although Bedes scrambled well to recover, a penalty saw the ball pumped into the corner from where Lymm drove over the line and despite a valiant effort at holding the ball up by Rick Mcewen, the ref saw enough to award the try. With the deficit reduced to 3 points, the match was back in the balance, and time seemed to be ebbing away extremely slowly. However Bedes maintained calm heads, and further sustained pressure led to a try for Porter to ease everybody’s nerves. With the match in its dying embers, one of the biggest cheers of the day came as the final say went to Sammy Alkhalaf as he scored on his return to the club after illness and exile stuck playing in Aberdeen with some Malaysian midget.

Credit to the lads for turning the game round after an ominous beginning. And thanks to Lymm for giving us a really tough test with what was a noticeably reshuffled team to which we had faced away in the league; we look forward to welcoming them for the return league encounter. Also a big thanks to all who came down to cheer the Bedes on in what must have been the most vociferous 2nd XV crowd seen so far this season. Watching 1st XV skipper Steve Bannell will have been happy to see a number of promising performances from many players who will now surely be knocking on the door for a place in his squad, demonstrating the strength in depth which the club now has at its disposal.

So Bedes march on in the cup, and look forward to welcoming Birkenhead Park 3s to Millgate Lane in the next round on February 22nd for what will surely be another tough test as both teams aim to reach the quarter finals. We hope to see as many of you there as possible to cheer the boys on!