North Mids One (Sth)

Kings Norton 20 Redditch 7

KINGS Norton took the honours in this league clash with neighbours Redditch at Ash Lane.

And the result leaves Redditch struggling near the foot of the table without a point to their name.

Kings coach Ian Jackson was again forced into making a late reshuffle as his front row selection woes continued. Kevin Edwards pulled out late on Friday and the unavailability of Russell Gauden meant replacement prop Richard Revell started along with 47-year-old former 2nds captain Steve Farrell.

But they still managed to maintain their unbeaten home record in the league against a side that also had a number of late changes.

Kings began the stronger particularly in the set pieces where their scrummage caused constant problems to the visitors whose defence worked hard to disrupt the early Norton assaults on their line.

The menacing Redditch backs counter-attacked at every opportunity and after 18 minutes, a surprise interception try seemed a certainty before a dropped final pass saved the day for the home side.

This stung Kings into action and they opened the scoring on 25 minutes. A massive charge by Phil Cooksey from halfway broke through the heart of the Redditch defence and some slick passing resulted in skipper Matt Eagles finishing off in the right hand corner. Ken Whitehouse added an excellent conversion.

Redditch struggled to compete with the home side in the remaining 15 minutes of the half as Kings maintained their constant pressure. Eagles led the way with strong tackling to break up any moves by the visitors who eventually fell further behind when second row Graeme Garrett crashed over in the corner five minutes before the break.

Whitehouse narrowly missed the conversion but slotted a penalty soon afterwards to extend the Kings lead to 15-0.

Kings added to the scoreline ten minutes into the second half from a rolling maul, taking the ball 15 metres before flanker Paul McGlynn touched down.

But Redditch refused to roll over and, as the Kings pack began to tire, the visitors began to counter.

The dangerous Redditch three-quarters finally came good midway through the half as they wrong-footed the home defence with a fine slicing move through the centre to give them the converted score they deserved under the posts.

Kings had earlier substituted captain Eagles with veteran scrum-half Dave Ellis and his experience was vital as he probed the Redditch defence with excellent long clearances. The Hopwood side finished the game the stronger but superb Redditch defensive play held them at bay.

Kings now sit joint second in the league alongside Tenbury Wells and Upton - and that is where they head on Saturday.

Redditch host Tenbury while Woodrush head to Handsworth.