DK hit buffers against Bedford

9:49am Thursday 13th March 2008

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Dudley Kingswinford 5, Bedford Ath 35.

When it seems that things can't possibly get any worse, they invariably do and that the case for Dudley Kingswinford on Saturday.

DK lost their most influential player Ian Langford, who turned his ankle in the warm-up prior to the kick off, and things didn't get much better during the Heathbrook clash as they were soundly beaten 35-5 by Bedford Ath.

The visitors, with a strong breeze at their backs, began the game at a furious pace and DK scrum-half Tommy Huggins did very well to steal the visitor's ball at the base of a scum on the DK line in the opening seconds of the game. The home side were a little unlucky to concede the first try after seven minutes when the referee missed a clear forward pass that enabled centre Ben Campbell to race through and score, evergreen fly-half Ashley Tapper converting his first of five to give Ath a 7-0 lead. DK mounted a few attacks that were easily dealt with before Ath hit them with a second try after 16 minutes. Several forward drives on the DK line were stopped but eventually centre Phil Elphick squeezed in at the corner for try converted by Tapper.

DK tried very hard to make inroads but were hampered by a lack of cohesion in their backline with both poor handling and distribution. Tom Bissell missed a penalty against the strong breeze after 27 minutes before the Ath really started to put their foot on the gas. A scything, pacey break from the ever dangerous Simon Elphick on 32 minutes, cut right through the DK rear-guard before he sent in fellow winger Fernley Simmonds for an excellent, length of the pitch score, which Tapper again converted.

The visitors piled on even more pressure and were rewarded with a fourth try after 38 minute, when second row Peter Taylor was driven over from a rolling maul. The unerring Tapper slotted another difficult conversion to see Ath 28-0 up at the break.

Ath resumed the offensive after the break and a neat half-break and inside pass from outside centre Phil Elphick set up another fine flowing, move culminating in loose head prop Andy Grounds touching down their fifth try after 43 minutes. Ashley Tapper added his fifth conversion.

DK though hit back straight from the kick-off when a rare early and accurate ball reached Simon Fletcher in the centre, his fine 45 metre break and outside pass to Ian Gowland in space saw the DK skipper touch down in the right hand corner to make it 35-5 after 45 minutes. For the final half hour DK had the bulk of territory and possession but were just unable to break the visitor's solid defence.