South West 1 West

North Petherton 32, Bridgwater & Albion 10

SAM Williams scored a hat-trick of tries and kicked 12 further points to help North Petherton to victory in the derby against Bridgwater & Albion on Friday night.

Making his 250th appearance for the club, Williams got the ball rolling with a try in the left-hand corner on 10 minutes which he also converted.

Carl Jones was then sin-binned for Pethy and Albion reduced the deficit with a Stuart Heal penalty, though the visitors had to defend strongly to repel a home attack soon afterwards.

Williams was not to be denied and added his second, which he again converted, to open up a 14-3 lead for the hosts going into half-time.

The Pethy talisman completed his treble soon after the restart, but Albion gradually started to get a foothold in the game and picked up their first try when Rob Gurnett charged over - Heal added the extras to reduce the home side's lead to 19-10.

Both sides then had men yellow carded as the game entered its closing stages, with Williams slotting over two penalties to give Pethy breathing space.

The result was put beyond doubt when Arron Gibbs went over under the posts late on, with Williams fittingly having the final word by adding the conversion as Pethy earned an excellent win and gained revenge for their defeat in the reverse fixture.

It also consolidated Pethy's place above Albion in the table - the victors are now up in fifth with Albion down in 11th.