TRIBUTE SOUTH WEST 1 WEST

Hornets 25, Bridgwater & Albion 15

A LACKLUSTRE performance from Bridgwater & Albion saw them slip to a 25-15 defeat at the hands of Hornets, writes Tony Pomeroy.

Rob Allen scored both of Bridgwater's tries while Heal added five points from the boot, but it wasn't enough as Albion slipped to a sixth defeat of the season.

Hornets put Bridgwater under early pressure and when Bridgwater offended at a tackle, home wing Jermaine Jones slotted an easy penalty to give his side a 3-0 lead.

Jones missed an easy penalty for the home side when Allen was adjudged to have committed a high tackle.

The home side increased their lead when some poor tackling let Hogarth charge through for a try under the posts converted by Jones.

A couple of minutes later a powerful Hornets forward drive saw former Bridgwater player Alec Chase touch down an unconverted try.

Hornets were rampant at this time and Bridgwater apparently had little answer.

They should have scored again but the final pass to centre Jack Gadd was adjudged to be forward.

As half time approached, Bridgwater gave a glimpse of their skills.

Ollie Steward's strong surge from the base of the scrum took Albion into the Hornets' half. The ball eventually found Ollie Dunn who was cut down just short of the line - but quick recycled ball found Allen who powered over.

Second half substitute LJ Chawatama's powerful break released Allen who tore through the defence to score near the posts, heal converted to bring Albion right back into the game.

Heal added a penalty to claw it back even further before Hornets responded with a three-pointer of their own.

Will Kerry was sin binned for the infringement and when Bridgwater were offside again, Hornets drilled the ball into the corner.

Their line out was clean and Chase was again driven over for his second try.

An off the ball incident then sparked an unseemly brawl which resulted in home hooker and skipper, Sean Kent and Bridgwater's Sam Knights both being yellow-carded.

Jones' conversion from the touchline was superb and increased the lead to 25-15.

In the final minutes, Bridgwater had a chance to narrow the lead and gain a bonus point but an attempted penalty to the corner sailed into touch in goal and the chance disappeared.

Next week, Bridgwater host Thornbury who are currently flying up the table following recent wins. Kick off is 3pm.

Bridgwater Team: Ash Honeywell, Joel Clark, Rob Allen, Will Kerry, Nick Francis, Stu Heal, Sam Knights, James Bryant, Matt Hastie, Joe Bussell, Matt Northey, Dan Kemmish (C), Nick Spellissy, Ollie Dunn, Ollie Steward.

Reps all used: LJ Chawatama, Doug Page-Symonds, Brian Webb

# Bridgwater have been deducted five points for fielding an unregistered player during November.