Bedford Athletic lose ninth game in 11 as Sudbury swoop for away win

The result keeps Athletic bottom of the table and five points from safety before the trip to Tring this Saturday.

It also brought the first half of the season came to a close with the side going down to a team exhibiting a greater skill set, cohesion and physicality.

Played in very windy conditions Bedford Athletic were against the wind in the first half.

They dropped the first long kick of the day putting them under immediate pressure in their own 22. This was relieved somewhat by excellent turnovers from Alex Edun and Andy Ince but the wind meant their opponents could keep the pressure on.

Eventually from a defensive scrum a box kick clearance was followed by a poor kick-chase and Sudbury were able to spread the ball wide for a try on the left wing to their full back Sam Rust in the 13th minute.

The kick off didn’t go the required ten metres in distance and this meant Bedford Athletic were soon back on the defensive.

Given the wind conditions it was difficult to find a way to relieve the pressure and this was exacerbated by losing several of their own lineout throws.

On 26 minutes Sudbury had a midfield scrum from which their winger Austin Beckett broke the defence carrying play to the home try line.

A quickly recycled ball meant a couple of phases later full back Rust crashed over on the right wing for a second try.

Finally Bedford Athletic took play into their opponents half after 32 minutes but with Sudbury dominant in the contact area this ended with a knock on.

From the scrum Sudbury sent a series of drives deep into the home side’s half aided by several well executed off loads and ending with a cleverly directed kick through from scrum half Fraser Beckett with Rust the beneficiary collecting the ball and cantering over the line for his hat trick try, this time fly half Chris Lewis was able to add a conversion.

There were a couple of half chances for the home side before the break but twice rolling mauls were held up and the half ended with Sudbury in the lead by 17 points to nil.

With the wind in their favour Bedford Athletic hoped to make inroads in the second half and initially this worked.

On 47 minutes a scrum penalty led to a lineout catch and drive, the maul being hauled down just short of the visitor’s line.

A couple of drives later Lewis Sharp crashed over for the opening try.

The home side tried to keep the momentum but were hindered by a lack of accuracy in their play, too often losing the ball in contact or not keeping possession successfully when building attacking moves.

This meant that Sudbury’s defence grew in confidence and they were soon driving Bedford Athletic back into their own half.

The match-clinching moment came in the 64th minute when Sudbury secured an attacking scrum on the home side’s 22 and a break down the blindside saw wing Beckett fed the scoring pass and he ran under the posts for Lewis’ conversion to make the score 24-5.

Bedford Athletic responded to this hammer blow with a 50:22 kick from Edun that gave them an attacking lineout near Sudbury’s try line.

This led to a penalty which the home side opted to tap, but the move collapsed when a couple of forwards ran into each other and knocked the ball on.

Once more the wind conditions kept the visitors under pressure and they conceded a 5 metre scrum from a Bedford Athletic kick ahead. This time the home side executed their attacking drills with Josh Dunne crossing for the score which brought the match back to 24-10.

Sudbury were unperturbed and they dominated the final minutes, their slicker passing and handling creating the final try of the day for wing Nathan Atherton which Lewis again converted.