Bedford Athletic Rugby Club

However a series of injuries in the second half disrupted their pattern and in the end this may have been the telling factor in preventing a push for an outright win.

Kettering scored first with a penalty on three minutes for Joe Daniel before the visitors replied in kind with a penalty from James Mortimer. Bedford Athletic were determined to deny their hosts whatever space and time they could and a suffocating defence prevented Kettering building any momentum. A sterling performance from openside flanker Rob Watkins also resulted in several turnovers as Athletic dominated territory and possession. Kettering did score on 24 minutes through a penalty from Daniel but then Athletic took control. A driving lineout opened up space for the backs and full back Ben Johnson hit the line at just the right moment to allow right wing Tommy Mills time to beat the last defender to score the try. Mortimer kicked the conversion and Athletic led 10-6. The final ten minutes of the half saw Bedford Athletic camped in the home side’s 22 but several kickable penalties were spurned and pressing for the try eventually the Kettering defence led by Joe Newman and Paul Sumner together with a number of handling errors frustrated their progress leaving 10-6 as the half time score.

This failure to score proved crucial when Kettering dominated the opening ten minutes of the second half and eventually their pressure paid off when Louis Hackett ran back a clearance kick through the whole visiting team to touch down for the try. Daniel converted for a 13-10 lead. From the kick off Kettering flanker Ben Wilson was sin binned for punching Tommy Mills but mysteriously the incident did not lead to a penalty for the visitors. Instead Mortimer attempted a drop goal from the resulting scrum that sailed wide. Down to 14 men Kettering started to press but scrum half Tom Bridgeman was held up over the line. With Alex Peck already off the field with an injury the departure of Mills saw Stuart Polson move into the backs which negated the back row advantage Athletic should have held at that stage. Once Wilson returned Rory Keir (Kettering) and Martin Wolfenden (Bedford Athletic) soon saw yellow for further fisticuffs and despite the best efforts of Luke Levitt and Ben Johnson in the backs and Billy Mills and Ben Middleton in the forwards the disrupted visitors could not fashion a winning or equalising score.

Bedford Athletic host Spalding this weekend at Putnoe Woods with a 2.15pm kick off.