Bees come agonisingly close to ending Scunthorpe’s unbeaten run

Scunthorpe extended their winning run to 17 games with a 17-16 win against the Bees, but their visitors took them all the way in a game that interim coach Paul Williams described as one that his side lost rather than the opposition won.

Mini & Junior product Billy Castle, who made his debut against Scunthorpe back in December, came in at second row with Matt Spink – another success story of the Bees’ junior set up, starting the game at No.8.

In the early exchanges the Bees seemed to have got the measure of a Scunthorpe side that, prior to this game, had an impressive run of sixteen consecutive wins dating back to October.

Mitch McGahan landed the first of three first half penalties after just three minutes to give his side an early lead – the points coming after his pack had taken the first scrum of the game against the head.

All the early good work was undone however in a 15 minute spell which saw Scunthorpe put three tries on the scoreboard in quick succession. The first two came as the home side put the ball out wide to the left wing. Fly half Steve Johnson showed his pace to glide in for the first, with his No.8 Kieran Bournes touching down for the the second.

The third try was claimed by blindside flanker Jake Barron from a line out 10 metres from the Bees’ line after more Scunthorpe pressure had forced a penalty from desperate defence work from the visitors. Even though Steve Johnson only managed to slot one of the three conversions, the Bees found themselves 17-3 down with just 20 minutes on the clock.

To their credit, the Bees steadied the ship and with a heavy duty pack to a man putting in an excellent work-rate, assisted by some good tackling notably in the centre by Brian Sibiya, they clawed the score line back to 17-9 at the break courtesy of McGahan’s boot.

With no doubt a few choice half time words from coaching duo Willy & Spanner ringing in their ears and the introduction of Matt Tibbatts from the subs bench, the Bees started the second period looking like a side who believed this game was still there for the taking. Within 6 minutes, they had narrowed the deficit to just one point when Chris Goddard profited from an well-executed driving maul from an attacking line out.

With their tails now well and truly up, the men in golden-yellow piled the pressure on the Scunthorpe line with a series of forward-led assaults. However, just as had been the case in the corresponding fixture earlier on in the season, the Green’s defence was resolute and disciplined, although the Bees might have felt aggrieved that one of their numerous driving mauls was deemed by referee Ryan Smith to have been held up over the line.

Such was the pressure applied that it was to be the 25th minute of the second half that Scunthorpe got into their opponents’ half. With momentum shifting back in the home side’s favour, they spurned two kickable penalties to instead look for the try bonus point from attacking line outs. It was the Bees’ turn to show their defensive qualities, showing an admirable level of determination of fitness to keep the score line locked at 17-16.

When the final whistle blew, Scunthorpe looked more than relieved that their promotion push hadn’t been spoiled by their combative visitors.

For the Bees, they will no doubt rue not capitalising on several attacking chances and some of their decision making, which saw them on occasions kick away too much ball and not use their backline to its full effect. Still, there can be no doubting the backbone and growing spirit of a side who, had they not had such a poor first half of the season, could well have been challenging for promotion themselves.

Team

Birmingham & Solihull:- Alex O’Malley, Chris Fensome, Brian Sibiya, Jimmy Oliver, Arron Wilson, Mitchell McGahan (3P,C), Jack Jolly, Matt Spink, Darren Forder, Ashley Scriven, Billy Castle, Chris Goddard (T)©, Pete Koziot, Zane Raimondi and Dan Toth. Replacements – Kurtis Payne, Matt Tibbatts and Jack Fitzgerald.