Battling Bedford Athletic lose opener away at Southend

The visitors did well to fight back to 35-34 at one stage but could not stay in contention for the win as their hosts stretched their unbeaten record to 22 matches.

The early stages were dominated by the visitors, who looked fluid in possession and sharp in attack but as soon as they were put on the defensive, missed tackles immediately put them under pressure. Having created very little Southend took the lead with a try out wide where they simply outpaced the defence leading to a score for fly half Ben Lloyd on five minutes, which he himself converted. Five minutes later a further period of possession saw the hosts extend their lead with scrum half Nick Horton the try scorer, Lloyd again converting.

Debutant fly half Josh Foster, stepping up from the Colts last season, got Bedford on the scoreboard with a penalty in the 14th minute.

However the home side did not relinquish their grip on the match, scoring their third try before the half hour mark again through scrum half Horton, converted by Lloyd.

Following a yellow card for the home team’s second row Matthew Wagstaff, the visitors eventually opened their account with a try from their lively scrum half Tana Stenson, Foster kicking the conversion.

But the home side had the try bonus point in the bag by the half time whistle with a score for back row Steven Walker again converted by Lloyd giving them a 28-10 half-time lead.

Bedford finally settled into their rhythm at the start of the second half playing with a pace and a purpose that their hosts struggled to live with.

With an edge in the scrums and the forwards carrying hard, the space opened up for the back line to exploit.

Centre Nathan Litchfield was first on the scoresheet in the 46th minute and although that try went unconverted, Foster was successful in the 54th minute when he converted a Josh Cassell try.

By that time Southend had also scored again through winger Tom Ramsey again converted by Lloyd so this narrowed the gap to 35-22.

Athletic were now at their free-flowing best and Harry Sawford-Smith collected the bonus point try on 58 minutes before Litchfield added a fifth on 62 minutes which with a Foster conversion saw the score narrowed to 35-34.

Fly half Ben Lloyd proved the thorn in the visitors' side when he scored and converted his own try in the 67th minute, but a further Foster penalty kept the visitors in touch at 42-37 with 10 minutes to play.

Thereafter once again the momentum was all with the home side as they scored two further tries as the visitors’ defensive frailties returned to deny them anything further from the match.

Bedford Athletic open their home campaign against Tring this Saturday at Putnoe Wood with a 3pn kick off.