South West 1W
Clevedon 34, Bridgwater & Albion 18

ALBION went to Clevedon in search of their fourth successive victory but they came away disappointed after failing to make the most of their scoring opportunities.

The visitors had the majority of the game but it was Clevedon who countered well and scored when they had their chances to win 34-18.

Clevedon took the lead with a Hill penalty that dropped over off the post on six minutes, which very shortly afterwards Stuart Heal cancelled out when he slotted home his kick – also off the post.

For the next 20 minutes it was very much Bridgwater in the ascendancy as they took the game to Clevedon.

The pressure was rewarded when a neat move involving Luke Plummer and Sam Britton resulted in Brad Field going over for an unconverted try.

Bridgwater continued to drive forward with Field, who was playing at scrum-half, leading the way but they were unable to turn their continued pressure into points.

With five minutes to go until the interval, a good was instigated by Clevedon’s Tom Thie, who was formerly with Bridgwater, passing to centre Rice, who scored a try converted by Hill.

With half-time approaching, Bridgwater lost the services of Plummer who was injured and replaced him with James Collins.

In the dying seconds of the half, Owen Biggins, another former Bridgwater player, went over for a try that Hill converted making it 17-8 at the interval.

Within five minutes of the restart Clevedon prop Largenton broke through and set up Ashfield for a try which Hill converted to extend the home side’s lead.

However, Bridgwater hit back quickly as skipper Ollie Dunn burst through to score a try which Heal converted to make the score 24-15.

Further Bridgwater pressure resulted in a yellow card being issued, reducing the hosts temporarily to 14 men, but Clevedon defended strongly and managed to hold out well.

Eventually, Taylor Buller crossed the line for what appeared to be a try but it was disallowed by the referee.

Bridgwater kept up the pressure and a Heal penalty reduced the arrears to six points.

Clevedon weren’t done and fought back strongly, and in the 57th minute Field was shown the red card by the referee for dissent, after which Hill kicked a penalty to make the score 27-18.

With five minutes remaining, Clevedon’s Rory Biggins, another former Bridgwater player, scored a try which Hill converted as the match finished 34-18.

Bridgwater & Albion: Sam Britton, Oscar Tregenna, Rob Allen, Luke Plummer, Garryn Basson, Stuart Heal, Brad Field, Lewis Phillips, Shaun Mahoney, Joe Bussell, Ethan Trebble-Westlake, Dan Kemmish, Taylor Buller, Ollie Dunn (Capt) Micky Norman. Rep (all used): James Collins, Adrian Chew and George Sluman.

***

REFLECTING on his side's defeat at the weekend, Bridgy head coach Simon Morrell said: “To be honest, I have got no complaints at all and we started the game with best of intentions and were really competitive.

“When you play a top three team, which Clevedon are, you have to be really at it in the contact area, switched on and aggressive and we did that and disrupted them in defence and put them under all sorts of pressure.

"We probably should have taken more points than we did in the opening stages.

“We kicked three or four penalties in the corner when, perhaps, at 8-3 we should have built more of a score and extended our lead.

"However, credit to Clevedon because what they did was slog it out for the full 80 minutes and they took the points so I don’t have any complaints."

He added: “We should have left there with the bare minimum of two points and I felt some individuals gave up on the situation and threw the towel in.

"That showed because the way that we defended in the last 20 minutes was really poor.

“But that’s the next level – the top three, so we need to be more ruthless for the full game.

“The boys need to go away and reflect on this performance because it's not something that you can coach, its a mindset and a mentality thing more than anything else.”

Looking ahead to this weekend’s match at home to Drybrook the head coach said: "It's going to be tough because they are a very similar side to Clevedon.

"They have a better back line than Clevedon and we will be without Brad Field, Luke Plummer and Nick Bradley.

“If ever there was a week when we have to grind out a win and do it ugly then it's this weekend."

The match against Drybrook at College Way gets underway at 2.30pm, so why not go along and cheer the ‘Bridgy Boys’ on.