Broadstreet bring Bees’ winning run to an end with a deserved 15-7 victory

Broadstreet carved out a deserved 15-7 victory against the Bees, leap-frogging their opponents in the National League 3 Midlands table and leaving Pete Glackin’s men plenty to ponder on as they made the short journey back along the A46.
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The game between sides placed third and fourth in the league was always going to be a tight one, but it was a contest that the Bees needed to win if they were going to keep up with the pace setters at the top of the table. In the end, it was a game that they never really looked like winning, as their hosts proved to be more than a match in every department.

The first half saw just 5 points put on the scoreboard and they were added within the first five minutes of the game, when Broadstreet wing Ed Boxall finished adroitly in the left-hand corner after a neat kick through from fly half Sam Hollingsworth. Lee Chapman missed the conversion – the ex Bee was to squander two other penalty attempts in the first period.

Much of the first forty minutes were played in the Bees’ half as the men in red and green gave their visitors’ defence a thorough examination. Even when down to 14 men, with skipper Mike Worthington sent to the sin bin following a minor fracas inevitably involving Jack Jolly, Broadstreet managed to keep a stranglehold on proceedings.

The Bees managed to shake off some of the cobwebs in the third quarter, but a lack of precision coupled with an inability to use the width of the well-manicured Ivor Preece pitch meant that they had nothing to show for all their territory and possession.

The sense that the game was slowly slipping away from the visitors was ostensibly confirmed with the sin binning of prop Pete Koziot. The veteran loose-head was deemed to have collapsed the scrum by referee Adam Smith, who had hitherto supervised the game in a relatively laissez-faire manner.

Five minutes later Chapman slotted his first kick of the game to give Broadstreet an 8-0 lead, meaning that the Bees would now have to score twice. That seemed to galvanise the men from Portway and they got one of those two scores just two minutes later. This time it was the turn of winger Tawanda Chipadza to win the foot race to the ball, after a well-weighted kick from centre Ben Phillips.

With the conversion added and now just one point separating the two sides, a grandstand finish could have been in prospect. Yet visiting supporters’ hopes were also immediately dashed as dynamic openside flanker Chris Idehen waltzed in, largely unopposed, from 20 metres out, to restore the lead. With a rejuvenated Chapman adding the extras, a deserved win for the home side was effectively sealed.

A Jolly penalty at the death fell short - something of a metaphor for his team’s performance - and the Bees were denied even the consolation of a losing bonus point.

How significant the outcome of this game will be on the final league positions come April is clearly impossible yet to judge. The win certainly keeps Broadstreet in the hunt, eight points adrift of Nuneaton and Sheffield (both on 64 points), who both recorded wins yesterday. For the Bees, now 10 points behind the league leaders, they will need to regroup and rediscover their mojo – something they will need to do promptly, with sixth-placed Derby the visitors to Portway next Saturday (28th January KO 2.15pm).

Birmingham & Solihull Bees:- (1) Pete Koziot (YC) (2) Zane Raimondi (3) Kurtis Payne (4) Andrew Weaver (5) Chris Goddard © (6) Ashley Scriven (7) Michael Stephens (8) Matt Spink (9) Jack Jolly (1C) (10) Max Rodman (11) Tawanda Chipadza (T) (12) Ben Phillips (13) Callum McBurnie (14) Joe Bridger (15) Chris Fensome. Replacements (16) Joe Foreman (17) Danny Wright (18) Issac McNulty.
Referee: Adam Smith