Wednesbury 21 - 10 Aston Old Edwardians

Aston visited Wednesbury on a warmish day and played on a flattish pitch in a goodish game. The result was most certainly a lot closer than in their first encounter of the season and represents further progress for Aston. Much of this is because we have younger players on the field (no disrespect to the Old Guard who were there in large numbers in September and October). That is not to say that there were no Old Timers on duty as Tony Parry and Darren Morris were on parade and showed well.

The two sides looked very well matched in the early stages and neither could make much progress against the other's defence. Wednesbury had more of the initiative, however, but it was Aston who had the first shot at putting points on the board when Ian Lyons attempted a penalty which was wide. In short order, Wednesbury attacked and potted three points at the other end and followed up with a repeat within five minutes. Aston's lineout left much to be desired and needs much practice again and the scrum, despite a good performance from Adam Baldock in the hooking department, went back too often and we missed Nick Whiteman's weight. Ian Lyons, after his warm-up shot, was on target with his second attempt but Wednesbury cancelled it out with their third to take the score to 9-3. A try saving tackle from Carl Stephenson was followed by a yellow card for Pete Carroll as Wednesbury turned up the pressure and, almost immediately, the home side ran the length of the field to score a try which they could not convert.

In the second period Aston struggled somewhat to string much together but they did not lack effort and their tackling was mostly secure. In this department the results were more than respectable. Given their set-piece superiority Wednesbury were able to gain territorial advantage and, following an impressive sally upfield, they put Aston under huge pressure for a prolonged period close to the Aston line. They won a penalty which they put into the corner but the lineout offered up a scrum for them and they drove over and added the two points. With the score at 21-3 Aston were out of it but the score did not reflect Aston's effort in defence and Ethan Channer and Julius Hunt both turned in mature performances in attack and defence. They were to be involved in the last scoring of the game as Aston picked up the gauntlet and began to dominate the last ten minutes of the match. Aston won a scrum five metres out and Ethan Channer picked up, making good ground. His pal, Julius Hunt was in close support and he took the pass to go in behind the posts for Ian Lyons to kick the conversion to finish the match.