Sat 15 Oct 2022
Claverdon 10 – 11 Alcester
Alcester narrowly held on to their unbeaten streak at the weekend with a 11-10 victory over local rivals Claverdon, extending their run to six games.
The visitors made a promising start when Alcester’s top try scorer, Mark Burrell, added another to his season’s tally within the first five minutes of the game.
However, the early ascendency almost gave Alcester a false sense of security, as that would be the easiest points they scored all game.
On Claverdon’s Vice President’s day, with well over 100 guests, the intensity was high, and supporters from both sides were vocal in spurring on their teams.
The game settled into an even battle with both defensive lines holding strong and the Alcester pack held up a Claverdon attempt over the line.
The remainder of the half stayed scoreless right until the closing stages when the home side were gifted an easy try on the wing, and a successful conversion put them two points up at the break, 7-5.
The afternoon provided all weather fronts, and a heavy downpour made the ball and pitch greasy, lending to some handling errors as both teams looked to add to the score board in the second half.
Alcester’s initial effort was held up over the line, but they kept chipping away at the Claverdon defence with momentum on their side. They were awarded a penalty and opted for the posts and Ed Gough nudged his side back in front.
Less than 10 minutes later, the home side were also awarded a penalty and to the delight of the crowd regained the lead.
In a tense last twenty minutes, it looked as though Claverdon might have just stopped the league leaders in their dominant path but another infringement this time right in front of the posts, gifted Alcester another easy penalty and that all important one point lead.
Alcester just had to defend without giving away a penalty and as the Claverdon squad began to tire, Alcester had one of their most dominant periods of the game, camped in their oppositions half.
Last play was called as Claverdon had the put in at the scrum but they fumbled the ball which ended up in captain Will Silk’s hands before he offloaded to Burrell who kicked in to touch to secure the victory.
