Ath come up just short in their opener
Comeback not quite enough
Bedford Athletic just failed to get over the finishing line as they opened their season in Midlands One East campaign with a 34-27 defeat at Coalville on Saturday.
Ath battled back from 27-6 down as they pulled to within seven points of their hosts.
However, they ran out of time of their hosts hung on to triumph.
Athletic opened the scoring on five minutes, but James Mortimer's penalty was soon surpassed by a Coalville try following a period of sustained pressure.
Bedford camped in Coalville's half and their assault was only halted by an injury to the home side's fly-half.
Mortimer eventually kicked another penalty to narrow the gap to a point, before things turned sour with 15 minutes of the half left.
Ath lost concentration and fell off a number of tackles as they conceded two penalties in the closing minutes.
And the host then touched down a converted try late on to lead 20-6 at the break.
The opening second half score was to be crucial and it was Coalville who got it as their fly half successfully chipped the defence and then fed his inside centre to score under the posts.
The conversion made it 27-6, but Ath stuck to their task manfully.
A series of scrummages on the Coalville line eventually led to a sin-binning and shortly afterwards Ben Mann exploited a gap in the Coalville defence to score under the posts.
Once again though, Ath let the game slip when missed tackles in defence allowed Coalville through to secure a bonus point with their fourth try.
Trailing 34-13 Ath came back strongly. Captain Sam Richbell turned the ball over in midfield and Matt Holland scampered through, with Phil Reed converting.
Ath once again camped on the Coalville line, but good defence held them out until Phil Reed's cross-kick allowed Will Quinn to touch down in the right hand corner.
Reed's conversion secured the losing bonus point, but Ath had run out of time.
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Weather for Bedford
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 21 mph
Wind direction: East
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Temperature: 11 C to 22 C
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