News
Match Report v Nottingham
For the second time on the road this season, Bedford Blues saw victory stolen from them with the last passage of play as they were edged out 22-20 at a resurgent Nottingham.
The results of late just go nowhere near to explaining the heart, fight and effort from Bedford Blues in recent weeks as they consigned to another defeat on the road, when they really should have been celebrating at the final whistle.
The first-half was pretty much a non-event as neither side could build too much momentum with choppy and testing conditions causing havoc all afternoon at Lady Bay.
There was a nine-minute period of scrums which really did nothing to entertain the paying spectators who made a return to Championship rugby for the first time in 15 months.
Nottingham took a slender 7-0 advantage with them back to the dressing room at half-time thanks to captain Jake Farnworth’s converted score, but that was about it in terms of action.
There were lineout misthrows and knock ons aplenty; Blues did try to run with ball in hand but found an impenetrable wall in the first half as Nottingham held out, including a period with only 14 men as Luke Frost was sin-binned.
The game came to life in the second half as Blues demonstrated the attacking, free-flowing rugby we’ve come to adore over the years.
But it seemed like Nottingham scored in response every time rather quickly as they couldn’t build on their upturns in momentum.
Jordan Onojaife was the first man in Blue to cross the whitewash on 47 minutes when collecting a sublime long pass from Will Maisey, who missed the conversion.
Nottingham edged nine points clear just three minutes later as Willie Ryan went over and saw it converted by the impressive Nic Dolly.
Back came Bedford in a real ding-dong second half; this time Ollie Newman made the hard yards before a sublime offload into Josh Gillespie to score. This time Maisey made no mistake.
But it was soon 19-12 as no sooner had Bedford made it a two-point game, Nottingham got over the line again. Farnworth got his second although this one wasn’t converted.
The final try of the contest brought about the best dive over the whitewash of the game. Maisey again went long with the pass to find replacement hooker Jack Hughes, who finished with notable aplomb to make it 19-17.
Blues kept battering down the hatches but to no avail when trying to get the try bonus point. They edged closer and closer but were ultimately failing in their efforts, and they turned to the boot of Maisey to edge in-front for the first time with just 60 seconds remaining.
But just like Coventry on opening day, Blues let the penalty count get against them with time in the red; leaving Dolly with a difficult kick to win the game which we did to leave Bedford desolate.
Blues do ascend a place in the table, up to 8th, but know that is as high as they can possibly finish ahead of the final game of the campaign.
And it’s a massive one next weekend to conclude the 2021 Championship season. It’s the Battle of Bedfordshire against Ampthill to see the season to a close… and there’s the local bragging rights at stake.
*All matchday photography provided by Claire Jones*
Teams
BEDFORD BLUES
15. Rich Lane (C), 14. Josh Gillespie, 13. Elijah Niko, 12. Oskar Hirskyj-Douglas, 11. Matt Worley (58'), 10. Will Maisey, 9. Connor Tupai (58'); 1. Emmanuel Iyogun (44'), 2. Jacob Fields (41'), 3. Ed Prowse (44'), 4. Will Carrick Smith (46'), 5. Jordan Onojaife, 6. Ollie Newman (58'), 7. Joe Atkinson, 8. Tui Uru (49')
Replacements
16. Jack Hughes (41'), 17. Sean McCarthy (44'), 18. Corrie Barrett (44'), 19. Oli Curry (46'), 20. Oli Robinson (49'), 21. Ewan Fenley (58'), 22. Ethan Grayson (58'), 23. Andre Robson (58')
NOTTINGHAM
15. Luke HIbberd, 14. Jack Stapley, 13. David Williams, 12. Charlie Thacker, 11. Luke Mehson, 10. Matt Riddington, 9. Alex Dolly; 1. Aniseko Sio (55'), 2. Jake Farnworth (C), 3. Ben Betts (55'), 4. Callum Allen (49'), 5. Luke Frost, 6. Ollie Chessum, 7. Willie Ryan, 8. Josh Poullet (57')
Replacements:
16. Shaun Evans, 17. Daryl Marfo (55'), 18. Harri O'Connor (55'), 19. Carl Kirwan (49'), 20. George Cox (57'), 21. Michael Stronge, 22. Theo Manihera, 23. Harry Graham
