Aston travelled to Tamworth on a frosty day but found the playing surface in good order with the ground bathed in pale sunlight throughout. Tamworth have been making positive strides of late and showed why they had lost only narrowly the previous week against second placers Old Salts. Tamworth fielded a strong pack of forwards and their tackling was hugely reliable. They missed very few all afternoon, affording Aston little time on the ball and scant opportunity to attack from deep.

From the kick off Tamworth were on the offensive. They forced a line out a few metres out and from a subsequent ruck Dean Smith crossed for a try which went unconverted. Aston's response was immediate and they pressed close to the Tamworth line but the best they could get from this was a penalty attempt which failed. Aston resumed their pressure and Tom McNamee kicked a second attempt beautifully from thirty metres.

Tamworth's forwards asserted themselves and had Aston in their grip for some time and their reward came when Danny Norton converted a penalty to take the score to 8-3. The line out was unpredictable for both teams. Despite this, both put some coherent attacks together but the Tamworth backs made several promising forays with the last pass not going to hand. Most of the play was taking place in the Aston half, calling on Aston to show strong tackling, particularly from the back row who were kept busy throughout. With Barry Maksymczuk making some good clearance kicks Aston kept the foe at bay but Danny Smith was able to extend Tamworth's lead to 11-3 at the break with a well taken penalty.

Aston began the second period brightly and exerted some real pressure in the Tamworth 22 with improved line out work, but a turned over ball allowed Tamworth to make an excellent clearance. This brought play to the centre of the field and Tom McNamee attempted an ambitious penalty which fell short. He was in action again from the clearance and made an impressive fifty metre dash along the touchline, getting away cleanly for the first time in the game after having been superbly policed through the first half. He then kicked his second penalty from the ten metre line for 11-6.

The restart saw Aston under pressure in their 22 and putting up a fight in defence. They tried to run the ball out of the danger area and knocked on and, from the resulting scrum, Tamworth fashioned the decisive moment of the game. Dave Goodwin went over on the right wing after a dummy scissors and first class handling from the home team’s backs. The try was not converted but Tamworth added three more points via Danny Norton’s boot before putting in a very powerful finish with a twenty metre drive from the line out to Aston's goal line. Determined to concede no more points Aston put in another sterling display in defence and held out until the final whistle.

Tamworth were good value for their thirteen point margin on the day, reversing the result in the earlier encounter at Sunnybank Avenue. Aston were competitive from start to finish but were allowed less time on the ball than they normally command and the better team carried off the spoils.

Brian Kelly