Home loss but it’s close call for Derby
DERBY 22 BEDFORD ATHLETIC 26
DERBY lost their opening home game of the Midlands One East season but there were encouraging signs for head coach Mark Bradley.
He saw his side fight to the finish in a 26-22 defeat by Bedford Athletic at Haslams Lane.
“Bedford were seen as one of the stronger teams in this division before the season began,” said Bradley.
“But we kept going to the end, despite having a few issues with injuries in the game. So to keep it close was encouraging.
“We even had chances to win it I’m not saying we should have won it but the chances were there.
“And even though we lost, we still picked up a league point.”
Derby lost three players to injury during the game – fly half Jack Partington (shoulder), winger Will Town (hamstring) and prop Oli George (groin).
“We were in the wars a bit but they kept going on a tough day for the full 80 minutes,” added Bradley.
“It was unfortunate for Jack because he only joined the club during the first lockdown, while Will was given a chance to start. They just want to play but, hopefully, they won’t be out for too long. We’ll get a better idea later in the week.
“We took them off straight away so they may be out for only a week.”
Derby were again led out by Charlie
Barker, in the absence of injured skipper Andy Brown, to face a Bedford side that had won both their opening games of the campaign.
And the visitors were soon on the attack. In the first 10 minutes they repeatedly attacked the Derby line and it was in this period that Partington had to withdraw.
Despite some tremendous Derby defence, Bedford broke through to open the scoring after 13 minutes with a well-worked unconverted try.
Derby gradually worked their way into the game and drew level after 22 minutes.
They kept the ball alive through a number of phases before Judah
Simpson, on as a replacement, burst through a gap to touch down in the corner and make the score 5-5 as the extras were missed.
Derby were forced into another reshuffle when Town departed, with Sam Pittman going on in the forwards and Rhondell Stabana moving from the back row to the wing.
Both teams put three more points on the board with penalties, Lewis Hancock kicking for Derby, but the visitors scored another unconverted try to lead 13-8 at the break.
Derby were under pressure at the start of the second half, conceding a number of scrum penalties before the referee decided he had seen enough and awarded Bedford a penalty try after 46 minutes, as well as sending Mike Johns to the sin bin.
But Derby hit back three minutes later with a marvellous try.
Patrick Burke kicked the ball down the pitch and Simpson won the race, hacking on twice before diving on the ball as it crossed the line for his second try.
Hancock converted, cutting Bedford’s lead to 20-15.
With seven minutes remaining, Bedford kicked a penalty, meaning Derby would need to score twice to win the game.
The next phase of the game saw Derby moving the ball well, with numerous players involved, before Charlie Barker burst over the line to score, Hancock converting to reduce the gap to one point.
However, the home side could not score again, with Bedford kicking a penalty to complete the scoring.
“Judah was on the bench so it was great for him to go on and get two tries,” said Bradley. “He was disappointed to not make the starting line-up but he came on and did what you have to do as a player, prove a point.
“That was Bedford’s full-strength side but we haven’t got our full strength side out yet, we are missing some key players.
“Hopefully, over the next few weeks we will get all those players back which will put us in good stead moving forward.”