Birmingham Exiles 3

Redditch 53

REDDITCH consolidated their position at the top of the North Midlands One with an emphatic away victory.

The Kingfishers travelled up the M42 looking to continue their good early form but knew they faced a stern test against an Exiles team looking to bounce back after last season's relegation.

Redditch showed their presence from the whistle and took just 12 minutes to convert their dominance into points with Peter White going over for his first try of the afternoon.

More tries shortly followed with Cooper and Tom Elmes both going over on 18 and 21 minutes.

The Kingfishers let their foot off the gas for the last 20 minutes of the first period but Exiles had no real answer.

Even when the visitors went down to 14 men for the final 10 minutes of the half Birmingham Exiles could only manage one penalty, turning round at half time with the score at 3-17.

The second half turned into a rout for Redditch with six unanswered tries.

Paul Barnett maintained his great start to the season with his customary score six minutes after the break.

Then tries from Goddard, Cooper, Alekna and two more from White, giving him his hatrick, finished off the rout.

Team manager Steve Moore said: "It was a great performance with season debutantes Goddard and Beddard proving that we are starting to get some depth into the squad.

"The win maintains our position at the top of the table, with confidence flying high, we can't wait for next week's league game at home to Handsworth."