THERE were gale-force winds at Stourton Park as Stourbridge huffed and puffed their way to a win against Wharfdale.

The visitors arrived just a point ahead of Stourbridge in National League Two and applied the pressure in the early exchanges.

The tension eased for Stour after three minutes when Mark Harrison broke from his own 22 metre line and ran three-quarters of the length of the pitch to touchdown, Rick Aley added the conversion.

George Morgan bagged the next try for the hosts after poaching a turnover ball spilled by Wharfdale in front of their own posts and again Aley added the extras.

The impressive Jack Blakeney-Edwards slotted home a penalty for Wharfdale to open their account just a minute later.

Stourbridge began to get the better of rucks and mauls and Joe Heatley burst through under the posts for a try which Aley converted and Stour looked comfortable.

In recent games Stour have failed to show a ruthless edge to finish teams off and Wharfedale were the latest to benefit from this bad habit as they began to assert some pressure.

Sam Gaudie scored a try as the ball was moved infield from a lineout by the visitors, Blakeney-Edwards converted.

Stour struggled to clear their lines and as the half drew to a close a poor clearance kick was charged down, Rhys Lovegrove got the try to make the score 21-15 at the break.

Stour had the wind at the backs for the second half but Wharfedale retained the momentum and Josh Burridge added another try following a break by Blakeney-Edwards, to bring the gap down to one point.

Aley stopped the rot with a penalty on 51 minutes and Stour began to get back into the game.

After pressure on the Wharfedale line the ball was flung wide to Dan Rundle on the left wing who scored in the corner and Aley’s superb kick for the conversion settled home nerves.

Wharfedale were not finished and hit back with a try and conversion from Blakeney-Edwards.

The match was again in the balance until Aley hit home a penalty after an infringement which resulted in a yellow card for Wharfedale’s Burridge.

Aley also had the last word with another successful penalty to finish the game and make the final score 37-27.