South One West One

Bridgwater & Albion 21, Thornbury 12

ALBION totally dominated Thornbury in this game to record their first home win of the season, writes Tony Pomeroy.

However, whilst the win was not enough to lift Bridgwater out of the relegation zone, it will do wonders for the confidence of the players.

Bridgwater again rang the changes in the team with Andy Hambleton and Will Kerry coming in for their first games and Doug Page-Symonds and Sam Russell on the bench. Rob Prescott also started at tight-head prop.

Bridgwater opened the scoring after 10 minutes when, following a penalty to touch in the right corner, Matt Hastie scored when the resulting rolling maul was driven over the line. Matt House converted with a good kick from wide out.

Thornbury then took the opportunity to level the scores after a Jak Evans break which soon became a lead for the visitors when Stephens wriggles over.

But just before half time Nick Spellissy picked up a loose ball at a scrum in the Thornbury 22 and scored under the posts. House's conversion gave Bridgwater a narrow, but deserved 14-12 interval lead.

In the second half, Thornbury missed chances to re-take the lead and Bridgwater attacked for the final half hour.

And Bridgwater were rewarded when they were awarded a free kick at a 5m scrum, skipper Dan Kemmish reacted swiftly, took the tap kick and crashed over for the decisive try, converted by House.

Bridgwater played out the ten minutes of injury time that followed but could not manage the bonus point try.

Next week they take on Old Redcliffians away before hosting Chard on Friday November 2 with a 7.30 pm kick off to avoid the clash with Saturday's Bridgwater Carnival.

Team: Andy Hambleton, Garryn Basson, Matt House, Will Kerry, Nick Francis. Dominik Griffin, Roger Drabble, Rob Prescott, Matt Hastie, James Bryant, Ed Driver, Rob Thompson, Nick Spellissy, Ollie Dunn, Dan Kemmish (Capt) Replacements used: Doug Page-Symonds (for Driver, 34), Sam Russell (for Prescott, h/t) Replacement not used:Gavin Knight