Alcester remain without a victory - The Redditch Standard

Alcester remain without a victory

Redditch Editorial 8th Oct, 2019   0

Berkswell & Balsall 20 Alcester 7

Midlands Three West (South)

ALCESTER suffered their third consecutive league defeat as they were beaten on the road on Saturday.

Both teams went into the fixture having not yet won a game in their 2019/20 campaigns and for the Kings Coughton men this is still the case after three matches.




The home side came out on top and were the better of the two sides in what was a scrappy, poor game.

Berkswell were denied their chance to take an early lead when Oliver Eburne missed a penalty kick before proceeding to miss all attempts at posts, including four conversions.


However, they made up for it by breaking Alcester’s line of defence to score three unanswered tries before half-time to take a 15-0 lead.

The home side opened the scoring in the second half too before Alcester’s efforts finally paid off when their man of the match Shaun Nash produced a one-handed offload to set up Will Mitchell to cross the whitewash.

Captain Ed Gough slotted over the only successful conversion of the game but, despite eliciting some celebrations from the large travelling crowd, it also caused frustration that Alcester did not attempt any further kicks at posts when awarded a penalty.

The red and blacks’ pack were dominating the scrum which caused unsettled the home side and the breakdowns were becoming scrappy as frustrations boiled over.

With five minutes to go, Berkswell hooker Mark Connors was shown a red card after he led with his head during an altercation.

Alcester were unable to capitalise on the extra man though and were left feeling disappointed when the final whilst blew, feeling hard done by from decisions that did not go in their favour.

Head coach David Miles said: “The difference between both sides was their execution and we needed to have cool heads in key moments.

“A major positive was our dominance in the scrum, as we turned over their ball on more than one occasion.”

On Saturday Alcester take on Old Laurentians 2nds in a friendly, whilst the 2nds meet OLs 3rds.

Reader Travel

Check out all of the latest reader travel offers to get your hands on some free gifts.

Online Editions

Catch up on your local news by reading our e-editions on the Redditch Standard.

Buy Photos

Buy photos online from the Redditch Standard newspaper.

Recruitment

Find a career you'll love with our free career finder website.