The biggest crowd of the season of 420 enjoyed a hard fought match. Played on the second team pitch, which held up really well despite the amount of water that had fallen on it in the previous 48 hours, the early exchanges were even.

The first scoring opportunity came on 7 minutes when Bees infringed at the breakdown but James Hearn saw his kick drift wide. From the restart, Stourbridge used their powerful forwards to move up the field and once again Bees conceded a penalty. However on this occasion the visitors opted to kick for the corner, securing good ball in the middle of the line out, and drove towards the line.

Initially, it looked like Bees were defending the drive well, stripping the front of the maul off but they were unable to sack the ball carrier. Eventually they simply ran out of defenders and Nile Dacres was pushed over for the initial score in the corner. The extras were added by Hearn to make it 0-7 on 12 minutes.

Bees tried to hit straight back. After recovering the restart, a series of pick and drives sucked in the defence. The ball came to Rod Petty who put in a deft cross field kick. A foot race between the wingers ensued but Alex O'Malley for Bees just lost out to Hearn. From the resulting scrum Bees won a series of penalties culminating in Stour's first yellow card (hooker, Dale Garner). However, from the lineout, Stour stole the ball and were able to clear their lines.

It was another turnover that ultimately resulted in Stourbridge's second try. A promising Bees attack came to an end and from that turnover Stourbridge put a huge clearance kick up field. The ball looked as if it was to cross in to the in-goal area but the wet surface slowed the ball. Oscar Heath collected it short of the line with one foot in-goal and dotted it down but the ball was deemed to have stopped travelling by the officials.

So instead of the 22 drop out, the visitors were awarded an attacking scrum. Despite being a man down, Stour got the nudge and a slight turn on the scrum and open side, Ejike Uzoigwe, was able to loop around the blind side to receive a pass from his scrum half and cross the whitewash unchallenged on 24 minutes, with Hearn adding the conversion.

The next, and ultimately final, score for Stourbridge came shortly after, on 29 minutes. Again, after another Bees attack was scuppered, Stourbridge kicked the ball deep into Bees territory. The ball was collected by the covering Petty in the 22 and he instinctively counter attacked and chipped the ball into space. However he was unable to collect the ball as Hearn got to it first and then broke through Petty' s tackle. A simple off load to the supporting Shillingford resulted in another try and a half time scoreline of Bees 0 Stourbridge 19.

Bees came out for the second half knowing that if they did not get the next score, the game would run away from them. Stourbridge tried their best to help with a second yellow card 5 minutes after the restart. With Bees building the pressure in the red zone, Stour's fullback, Tom Jarvis, was deemed to have deliberately killed the ball and was given a 10 minutes rest by referee, Tom Davis.

Bees took advantage, kicking for the corner from the resulting penalty. The lineout was won but initially it seemed to be successfully defended by the Stourbridge pack who drove the maul back 5m. However, the Bees pack re-grouped and showed why they are increasingly becoming a force to reckon with in this league and after a series of drives Chris "Lurch" Goddard, playing No. 8 for this game, smuggled over the line to score.

With Heath adding the conversion, Bees began to play with increasing confidence denying the visitors any reasonable possession. Where as in the first half, the Stourbridge back row seemed to have half a yard on Bees, the opposite seemed to be the case in the second half. And yet, despite throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Stourbridge, the visitors defence was steadfast.

Petty intercepted a Stour pass in midfield on 60 minutes and 2 years ago would have been able to finished it off. Instead he drew the defence and passed to the supporting captain, Will Radburn, who made several yards before trying to create space for O'Mally on the wing. However the scramble defence from Stourbridge was effective and snuffed out the chance. Despite a further yellow card on 74 minutes for Stourbridge, when replacement centre, Gary Dipple, was deemed to have gone off his feet, Bees were unable to make any more inroads in to their lead. Final score Bees 7 Stourbridge 19.

A losing bonus point would have been a fair reward for the dominant second half show for Bees but had we not shown the visitors far too much respect in the first half for a Stourbridge side who do not seem to be the force they were last season, who knows what may have come to pass. Needless to say, the team must re-group for what will be a tough trip to Otley next week.

Bees: Heath, Evans, Oliver, Leach, O'Malley (Mogaji, 67), Petty, Jolly (Canning, 62), Goddard, Scriven, Stephens, Lee (Dunne, 58), Spink, Bingham (Long, 45), Radburn, Koziot (Morley, 62).

Stourbridge: Jarvis, Bressington, Shillingford (Dipple, 64), Barkley, Hearn, Robinson (Higgins, 69), White, Depper (Moore,69), Uzoigwe, Mukarati, Dacres, Hughes, Hill (Sturdy, 77), Garner (White, 55), George.