Shipston on Stour 22pts, Kings Norton 0

IN front of a large crowd, Shipston soared to third place in the league with a game in hand over the leaders after completing the double over doughty opponents at Mayo Road.

Playing down the slope in the first half, Kings Norton played a game of aggressive open play disruption aiming to slow down and upset Shipston's pattern of play.

From their previous home defeat they had learnt that the Mayo men enjoy a quick pace to the game utilising both forwards and backs in successive phases.

Initially, their game plan bore some results and, during the opening quarter, Kings enjoyed possession from line-outs and scrums and kicked for territory using both corners and the slope to good advantage.

However, the trademark Shipston defence showed good discipline not allowing points to fall to the away team.

Although the first half ended with no score from either team, it was Shipston who finished the stronger and, after weathering Kings Norton's offensive play, looked as though they were ready to break away at any moment.

On the restart the home side sped up the game and the pack immediately started to stamp their authority in the open play while Carl Hamilton kicked cleverly for territory.

This created an offensive scrum from which scrum-half Mervin Brown bulldozed his way over the line for the first points of the match.

Just five minutes later, Shipston were awarded a penalty and, from long range, full back Sam Rainbow confidently kicked the three points.

Kings Norton were finding the new pace of the game hard to handle while Shipston were revelling in it - the inter-linking between forwards and backs clearly evident.

It was from such play that captain and man of the match Simon Baldwyn broke the defensive line with fearsome pace and charged for the line only to be caught by the full back ten metres out.

Teammates were on hand and it was hooker Martin Goodman who eventually squeezed his way over. Rainbow was successful with the conversion.

The final blow for the visitors came with the last try as Hamilton cleverly jinked his way through the defence to score from a scrum. Rainbow again added the extra points.

This was a patient and confident win for Shipston who know that there are no easy victories in the league this season. But, with confidence riding high and a desire to win, the whole squad see a successive promotion as a distinct possibility.

There's also the added bonus of knockout success but Henley Wanderers will provide tough Junior Vase opponents at Mayo Road on Saturday when a place in the last 16 is the prize.

Midlands Four West (South)

P W D L F A Pts

Old Yardleians 10 7 0 3 186 108 14

Berks & Balsall 10 7 0 3 150 82 14

Shipston 9 6 0 3 157 119 12

Droitwich 10 6 0 4 192 159 12

Earlsdon 10 5 0 5 159 128 10

Old Halesonians 9 5 0 4 108 119 10

Edwardians 9 4 0 5 127 153 8

Marconi Coventry 9 4 0 5 113 146 8

Kings Norton 10 2 0 8 85 172 4

Coventry Welsh 10 2 0 8 87 178 4