Pershore 13pts, Stratford 14

EIGHTY minutes of intense and fast flowing action finished with Pershore feeling themselves very unlucky not to have progressed to the next round of the NPI Cup.

After a good opening day victory they came into this match full of confidence and showed this from the kick off as they took the game to their higher ranked opponents.

Pershore were able to compete well in the scrum and obtain good line-out ball through both Widmer and Suckling and, with Andy Watson constantly able to disrupt and steal the Stratford ball, they certainly let the visitors know they were in for a tough match.

Despite a good opening period of play it was Stratford who got on the scoreboard first with a well worked try. The conversion deflected over of the posts to put them seven points up before Pershore worked their way back into the match.

Good driving from the forwards meant Stratford found themselves constantly offside and, with Sid Hirons moving the ball quickly from the tap penalty, Pershore bombarded the Stratford line.

Good defence from the visiting side kept them to just a Rob Haines penalty before Stratford delivered the sucker punch.

Breaking from halfway the Stratford scrum half appeared to knock the ball on and, unfortunately, as the Pershore defence hesitated waiting for the whistle it became apparent that the referee was the only person who hadn't seen the offence.

The scrum half controlled the ball well with his feet and beat the defence to the touchdown and give Stratford a 14-3 half time lead.

The game opened up even more in the second half as Pershore battled to find a way back into the match.

The break they needed finally came as Hamish drove over from a ruck to give them some hope. The conversion was missed and in the following moments the intensity and pressure of the game boiled over into a 30-man brawl.

Once the referee had regained control it was Pershore who reacted better and a long period of possession finally led to winger Fudgey squeezing his way over in the corner.

This left Pershore a point behind with only five minutes left on the clock and, despite having a couple of opportunities to break free they were unable to find the points needed to give them the victory they deserved.