Loss for Bedford Blues but Mob win once again

It was a bad day at the office for Bedford Blues as they suffered their first league defeat in two months with a 26-24 reverse at Nottingham.

On a day they could have wrapped up their fourth placed position mathematically after defeats on Saturday for the trio of Doncaster Knights; Hartpury University and Cornish Pirates, Blues couldn’t seize the initiative and were left with a disappointing defeat.

Bedford led for just five minutes in the game after Alex Day’s early try seemed to make it the perfect start, but they never built on it despite a rally in the second half.

A 15th try of the campaign for Sean French was another highlight, and there were further tries from Kayde Sylvester and George Hendy, but Blues’ winning run over Nottingham ended in drab circumstances.

Meanwhile, Ampthill travelled west to face Hartpury under the Friday night lights and recorded their third consecutive win in the league for the first time this season.

Pete White went over on eight minutes for their only try of the first-half, but only Tom Hardwick’s penalty also registered and The Mob were 21-8 down at half-time.

But further tries from Fyn Brown, Tom Bacon, Harry Wilson and Samson Adejimi sealed the comeback, Hardwick converting twice.

Head coach Paul Turner said: “Our first half performance was adequate. You always win these games playing well against the wind and we did enough. We controlled the conditions well in the second half and our set piece worked much better and better as the game went on and we deserved the win in the end.

“We’re playing well, we need to keep improving, our defence is improving every week and the players are playing with a bit of confidence now and we’re looking forward to two home games against Richmond and Coventry.”