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REPORT | Late heroics as Blues win final game before Christmas

Posted: 11th December 2021

Bedford Blues gave the #BluesFamily an early Christmas present as they managed to edge out a resurgent London Scottish at Goldington Road with a late, yet great, 24-19 victory.

It all seemed so easy with a 19-0 advantage after 33 minutes but conditions were quite simply atrotious in the second-half and credit to the visitors, they grew into the game during that period and will feel aggrieved not to have done enough to themselves take home the victory.

Blues Forwards Coach, Jake Sharp said: “Overall, we’re actually frustrated. It was a really good first-half performance and we thought we’d step it up a gear in the second half. But our discipline let us down and Scottish’s set-piece game came into play and it made it really difficult.

“But to grit it out with 13 men at the end is obviously brilliant. We’ll still take a long, hard look at ourselves because we need to be better, particularly with Jersey heading to Goldington Road on Boxing Day.”

It wasn't the greatest of spectacles to ever be played out on the hallowed turf of Goldington Road but it did ensure that Blues came out on top in their final fixture before Christmas and moved up to 5th in the Championship table. Sadly, they could yet fall before the big day as it's a bye weekend coming up but there'll be plenty of opportunity to make up for it in the second half of the season.

There were set pieces aplenty as the conditions really did wreck havoc on proceedings. Those set pieces were largely brought about through mistakes as neither side held much ascendency in the early exchanges and had to battle against the elements.

When Bedford did display their typical joué, it was a delight to watch and Matt Worley marked his return to the Starting XV with another fantastic finish that came following clever work from Rich Lane and Dean Adamson.

Then came the champagne moment. It wasn't particularly the best try, but most certainly the most graceful of finishes we'll see this season as Blues scored their second through Jack Hughes. Again there was patience shown in the 22m before shipping it wide for Hughes who performed the most outrageous swan dive to get it down. No TMO at Goldington Road worked a treat on that particular occasion.

It was soon that 19-0 advantage when Worley grabbed his second. Playing with advantage, Will Maisey went a bit more adventurous and it paid off as Worley collected his cross field kick and dotted it down.

It wasn't quite a case of Blues being in full control as there were still mistakes creeping in but it looked comfortable as Scottish never really imposed much before bursting into life either side of half-time.

Javiah Pohe's try gave them something to think about heading down the tunnel for half-time and they were markedly better after the break as the rain came swarming in. Having a solid - and frankly huge - pack meant they could control the set-piece battle and begin to creep their way up the field.

It took until the 65th minute to see another point but it was Scottish who got it as Blues were sent down to 13 men after replacements Robin Williams and Ollie Newman both saw yellows cards brandished in their direction for succesisve infringements at the maul.

There was a feeling that the game could slip away and when Cameron King found a gap, you would be forgiven for thnking the worst. Thankfully former Blue, Harry Sheppard missed the conversion so it was still a tied game.

And quite simply, the #BluesFamily reached another gear to help the boys over the line. With a roar behind them, the 13 men army inched their way up the pitch and decided to go for broke instead of the posts with three minutes to go in search of the bonus point.

Video replays might need to be analysed as Hughes and Josh Pieterse are both claiming the decisive moment but it was a really smart driving maul to get the ball over the line and with it, a much needed victory just in time for Christmas.

*Matchday Photography provided by Claire Jones - redhatphoto.co.uk*

Teams

BEDFORD BLUES

15. Rich Lane (C), 14. Matt Worley (67'), 13. Jamie Elliott (65'), 12. Tom Litchfield, 11. Dean Adamson, 10. Will Maisey, 9. Connor Tupai (51'); 1. Joey Conway (68'), 2. Jack Hughes, 3. Ed Prowse (3'), 4. Luke Frost, 5. Alex Woolford (57'), 6. Bailey Ransom, 7. Joe Atkinson (55'), 8. Tui Uru

Replacements

16. Josh Pieterse (68'), 17. Corrie Barrett (68'), 18. Osman Dimen (3') (68'), 19. Robin Williams (57'), 20. Ollie Newman (55'), 21. Alex Day (51'), 22. Louis Grimoldby (65'), 23. Josh Gillespie (67')

LONDON SCOTTISH

15. Leo Fielding, 14. Noah Ferdinand, 13. Sam Hanks, 12. Javiah Pohe (65'), 11. Tom Georgiou, 10. Harry Sheppard, 9. Stephen Kerins; 1. Jake Ellwood (40'), 2. Nick Selway (C), 3. James Roots (48'), 4. Angus Southon (33'), 5. Tom Baldwin (65'), 6. Ehize Ehizode (57'), 7. James Tyas, 8. Harry Wilson

Replacements:

16. Alex Gibson, 17. Lefty Zigiriadis (40'), 18. Joe Rees (48'), 19. Edoardo Balocco (57'), 20. Cameron King (65'), 21. Jack Ingall (33'), 22. Laurence May (65'), 23. Dan Nutton