Western Counties (North): Bridgwater and Albion 12-66 Cinderford Seconds

BRIDGWATER and Albion's winning run at home was brought to an end on Saturday afternoon when they were well beaten by a young slick and well drilled Cinderford Second team.

Despite the scoreline the hosts maintained their composure throughout and kept fighting until the end against a team who have won five of their six games to date this campaign and who won 20 of their 21 matches last season.

Before the start of the match a minutes silence was observed in memory of Albion stalwart Tony Pomeroy who passed away at the age of 81 earlier in the week.

Once the game got underway Cinderford were quickly into gear and took the lead after five minutes when Euran Gwynne scored a try which Joe Langbridge converted.

On 10 minutes Bridgwater made their first incursion into Cinderford territory but they were repelled and the visitors responded quickly with a move that ended when James Kerr went over for his first score which Langbridge added the extras to.

The hosts then enjoyed a 10 minute period where they were very much involved in the game, but were unable to break through the Cinderford defence.

The Forest of Dean side then created pressure at the opposite end and in the space of a couple of minutes they scored two tries, the first by Tom Samak and the other by Kerr, the latter of which Langbridge converted to make the score 0-26.

There was a break in play for several minutes after Josh Frost sustained an injury and had to be carried from the field of play.

Shortly after the restart the home side got themselves onto the scoreboard when skipper Taylor Buller crashed over for a try by the posts which Kyran Devitt converted making the half time score 7-26.

Bridgwater came out strongly after the break and the first 15 minutes saw them enjoying their best period of the game, during which they defended well but were unable to add to their score.

Cinderford then seemed to step up a gear and in the next few minutes Kerr scored three further tries, two of which Langbridge converted. The visitors ran in two more tries to make the score 7-52.

The hosts kept fighting despite their arrears and were rewarded when they gained a line out on the the left deep in the Cinderford half from which Gavin Knight went over for an unconverted try.

In the dying minutes Samak scored Cinderford’s final try which Langbridge converted to make the final score Bridgwater and Albion 12- Cinderford Seconds 66.

Albion drop to seventh in the table as a result of this match with 15 points from their six games and next Saturday travel up the M5 to play at Cleve who are ninth with 11 from the same number of matches.