Western Counties (North): Bridgwater & Albion 27-22 Clifton Seconds

BRIDGWATER and Albion move up to fifth place in the table after beating a young, fit and fast paced Clifton side at College Way on Saturday, writes Richard Walsh.

The first few minutes of the game were played at a frantic pace with Clifton straight into the attack , but the home side countered well and a Jay Owens kick to the left resulted in Lewis Plece going over for a try to put the home side ahead.

The lead was short lived as Clifton worked the ball well across their back line before it found Jack Hewitt who crashed over for a try left of the posts which Luke McMullan converted.

Bridgwater came straight back and a series of good moves saw the ball worked well to Taylor Buller down the left flank who went over for a try by the posts which Kyran Devitt converted.

The hosts extended their lead just before the hour when Devitt scored an unconverted try on the right. 

Bridgwater found themselves reduced to 14 players when Alex Knight was yellow carded and from the ensuing penalty Clifton reduced the arrears.

Being a player short didn’t seem to hamper the home side too much and following a period of pressure Taylor Buller went over in the left hand corner for his second try of the game, making the score 22-10 at the break.

Bridgwater continued to create pressure after the interval and there were series of scrums deep in Clifton territory but the Albion were unable to find a way through.

When Jordan Buller did eventually manage to find a gap he was held up on the line.

Clifton rallied strongly in the final quarter and the game became an end to end affair, with Devitt chasing back to field a long clearance before setting off on one of his threatening runs.

With 10 minutes of the game remaining Bridgwater kicked a penalty to touch in the left hand corner and from the line out a driving maul saw Jordan Buller crash over for an unconverted try.

In the dying minutes Bridgwater lost Harrison Cornish to the sin bin after a brief mid field altercation following which Clifton took advantage and scored two tries one of which was converted.

However the Bridgwater Boys who put in a spirited performance throughout the game dug deep and were thoroughly deserving of their 27-22 victory.

On Saturday Bridgwater travel to play at Midsomer Norton.