Pershore II 32pts,

Droitwich II 26

UP against a side that had not lost for 14 games with a makeshift back row and facing against a big pack, Pershore's second team pulled off a memorable victory with probably their best performance of the season so far.

Having lost convincingly to their visitors earlier in the season this was a topsy-turvy affair which both sides thought they had done enough to win.

With Droitwich arriving early and prepared for a tough game it was a bit of a surprise when Pershore were the side to set the early pace.

The pack set the scene with some tremendous rucking play which constantly disrupted the away side's platform.

Stand-in flankers Phil Shep-perd and Sean McCarthy were everywhere and were well backed up by a fired up pack.

Pershore got on the scoresheet first when stand-off Scott Johnston pumped the ball downfield for winger Dave Snell to chase well and catch the defence off guard.

The ball was turned over and, from the ensuing ruck, scrum half Rich Jenkinson dummied and went in for the score.

The second try was similar as Snell kicked downfield and the Droitwich full back cleared the ball to touch. As the defence reorganised Snell retrieved the ball quickly and took a quick throw to skipper Olly Heydon who went in unopposed.

This stirred Droitwich into life and they came back into the game well.

Their pack started to make some inroads and they were eventually rewarded when they charged down a clearance kick to score under the posts.

On the stroke of half time they took the lead when they worked the ball wide, after dragging in the Pershore cover defence, to give their winger the first of his three tries.

This set up a sensational second half which began with Pershore winning back their own kick-off and, with some excellent handling in the backs, winger Mike ran in a good score.

Droitwich took the lead once more minutes later when the Pershore backs stopped, waiting for a whistle with what looked like a forward pass, but they were punished for their lack of concentration as the winger ran in his second.

Pershore heads never went down and with an awesome display in the front row from Andy Stewart, Russ Humphries and Mark Groves got themselves back into the game.

With their backs to the wall Droitwich began to give penalties away and with one taken quickly Steve Eades shipped the ball on to Shepperd who found a gap to put the home side back in front, for good this time.

The final nail in the Droitwich coffin came when Snell dispossessed the No 8 and ran 50 yards for a score which was followed by a well-worked try for big tackling centre Leon Jammal.

The Droitwich winger completed his hat-trick to make the last few minutes a little nervy but the home side were never going to give the game away.