Defensive dog keeps Bees on track at Bedford Athletic

Dogged defence in the last quarter of the match earned the Bees a hard fought 9-13 away win against Bedford Athletic, writes Steve Johns

Bees had made three changes to the match day squad that had defeated league leaders Sheffield the previous week, with Mikey Whettell starting at outside centre and Matt Tibbatts and Joe Foreman among the forward replacements.

The excellent pitch surface promised a game of many tries, but instead delivered an abundance of heroic defensive efforts from both sides.

Jack Jolly slotted a penalty inside five minutes to give the Bees an early lead. The Bees' early intent was to win the forward battle, whereas Bedford's agenda was to attack in the wide channels. Excellent covering tackles by Michael Stephens and Jevon Hinds saved Bees from going two scores down.

Just before half time, sustained Bees pressure led to a scrum ten metres from the Bedford line. In a repeat of last week's forward effort, a Bees eight-man shove took them to the try line, at which point referee George Selwood ran under Bedford's posts to award a penalty try. Jolly added the conversion to bring the score to 0-10.

As Bedford looked to open their account before the break, Bees’ winger Tawanda Chipadza was adjudged to have not rolled away after making a crucial tackle, earning him a yellow card as the whistle blew for half time.

The start of the second half brought another Bees yellow card, with Zane Raimondi leaving the field for a high tackle. From that very spot, Bedford fly half Steve Smith kicked the resulting penalty. He soon added another, chipping away at the Bees' lead to make it 6-10.

Max Rodman came on for Whettell and made some telling tackles in wide channels to thwart Bedford's efforts. Another infringement from a determined Bees’ defence a few minutes later led to another Smith penalty for Bedford, narrowing the deficit to just one point with all still to play for.

Waves of Bedford attacks then hit the Bees’ defensive wall, which stood impressively firm. A Bees’ attack was stopped due to a high tackle - Jack Jolly duly capitalised with a penalty from thirty metres out on the angle, to claw back a 9-13 lead.

The pendulum swung further in the visitors’ favour when Bedford's tight head prop Josh McCann was sin binned for a scrummaging offence after two hefty Bees forward drives.

Yet the Bees’ defence was called upon yet again to withstand relentless Bedford attacks late on - the referee's final whistle was music to the Birmingham & Solihull ears – players and travelling supporters alike.

Meanwhile, the Hornets also secured a 44-33 victory against Bedford Athletic 2s, with Jack Fitzgerald bagging a hat trick of tries.

The Bees now go into the Christmas break with six wins from six games under their belts and are now unbeaten in two months. They sit in third place in the league, 10 points adrift of leaders Nuneaton and just five points behind Sheffield in second spot.

They will hope to continue this rich vein of form in the New Year, starting with Towcestrians at home on January 7th (KO 2.15pm).

Birmingham & Solihull Bees:- (1) Pete Koziot (2) Zane Raimondi (YC) (3) Kurtis Payne (4) Andrew Weaver (5) Chris Goddard © (6) Ashley Scriven (7) Michael Stephens (8) Danny Wright (9) Charlie Mumford (10) Jack Jolly (2P, 1C) (11) Tawanda Chipadza (YC) (12) Ben Phillips (13) Mikey Whettell (14) Jevon Hinds (15) Chris Fensome. Pen Try (1). Replacements; (16) Joe Foreman (17) Matt Tibbatts (18) Max Rodman.