Sat 2 Mar 2024
Evesham 17 - 24 Alcester
Alcester scored a last minute try to secure a triumphant win over local rivals Evesham on Saturday.
In wet and boggy conditions of late the game kicked off in wind and rain, and Evesham immediately took the upper hand scoring within the opening minutes, before successfully converting.
Alcester struggled in the scrums facing a stronger pack, and slippy underfoot conditions, to which Evesham capitalised on. In other areas, Alcester's defence held strong and despite their best efforts, Evesham broke the line to score their second.
A penalty in front of the posts finally got Alcester on the scoreboard courtesy of Ed Gough's boot, before a string of events went in Alcester's favour. Their opponents were forced down to 14 men when their centre was sin binned, to which Alcester instantly took advantage of as Christian Rushton ran a great line and received an offload from Jack Green to score under the posts, with the conversion added to bring the score to 12-10.
The home side took the narrow lead into the break, as the weather conditions started to improve slightly.
The action that started the second half was dominated by cards and sanctions. Firstly, Gough was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock on before a yellow was shown to either side as frustrations spilled over into an altercation, so Alcester were down to 13 men temporarily.
Once back on the field, Gough attempted a long-range penalty to put Alcester ahead for the first time, but despite having the direction, the ball fell short of the crossbar.
However, it wasn't long before Oscar Holland did put his side in front, after he collected a loose ball and raced away to the line before any defender had a real chance at stopping him. Gough added the extras to put the visitors 12-17 ahead with just over ten minutes to go.
Gough missed another long-range penalty in almost an identical position as his first, and to add insult to injury, Tommy Wright was shown a yellow card for a high tackle with Evesham close to the line. Evesham moved the ball quickly for a try out wide but the conversion was missed to bring the scores level.
With a minute left, Alcester had a scrum five metres out, before the ball made it to Rushton to cross over for his second of the game and to win it for his side. Gough converted to seal the deal, as the final whistle was blown.
