Counties 1 Tribute Western North: Cleve 27-24 Bridgwater & Albion

THIS was very much a game of two halves at the end of which it was the hosts who ran out the winners by a narrow margin, writes Richard Walsh.

Cleve raced into a 15 point lead before the visitors started to claw their way back into the game. However despite their best efforts Bridgwater were left to regret their slow start and missed opportunities.

As early as the second minute Cleve took the lead when a speculative kick through by Warman bounced kindly resulting in Thomas scoring a try which he then converted.

The hosts extended their lead when stand off Clode went over in the corner for an unconverted try after 10 minutes.

By the end of the first quarter of play Thomas had kicked a penalty putting Cleve 15-0 ahead.

The visitors then started to get themselves more involved in the game and five minutes later Albion kicked to the corner and from the resulting line out James Collings crashed over for a try which Kyran Devitt added the extras to.

Just before the break Cleve rallied strongly and after Jake Knight was yellow carded Davis went over for an unconverted try making the score 20-7 at the interval.

From the start of the second half Albion looked a different side as they dominated proceedings for long periods with most of the play being deep inside the Cleve 22 metre line.

Albion created several opportunities the best of which, following a clever move by Taylor Buller saw Danny Mahoney just failing to score. 

However with 13 minutes remaining  the visitors managed to add to their tally after good work from Collings and Devitt released Tom Croal who dashed through the middle before passing to Alex Knight who went over for a try, making it 20-12.

Soon afterwards Albion moved to within touching distance of their hosts when skipper Taylor Buller intercepted a Cleve pass and ran in from 45 metres to score a try.

The hosts then rallied strongly which resulted in Davies going over for his second try which Thomas converted, making the score 27-17.

Albion weren’t done however and with less than five minutes remaining the Knight brothers Jake and Alex combined well before passing to Taylor Buller who charged over for his second try of the match, which Devitt converted.

With the clock ticking down the visitors remained on the attack but on each occasion were repelled by the Cleve defence before the referee blew the whistle with the final score 27-24 to the home team. 

Albion are without a league fixture for the next two weekends and are next in action when they travel to play at Clevedon on 11th November.