Seconds unfortunate to lose derby encounter

14/02/09 - Tribute Somerset Three South: Burnham-On-Sea II 40 v 28 North Petherton II

Report by from the Bridgwater Mercury

North Petherton travelled to Burnham on Saturday and would count themselves unlucky to lose out in a very tight encounter.

Having started superbly Pethy found themselves 3-0 up in the first minute with a penalty by Lloyd Steward.

Not resting on their laurels Pethy continued to apply pressure and forced Burnham into conceding another penalty minutes later, just inside their own half.

With Steward again converting Pethy were starting to build a significant lead.

The forwards were managing to intercept many Burnham passes and with some powerful running from captain Larry Steward, Wayne Pither and Adam Modrzynski, Pethy soon started to make holes.

It was not long before they scored again - after some slick hands the ball fell to Oliver Steward to ghost through the defence and score his first try of the season, again converted by Lloyd Steward.

The score now was 13-0 and Petherton were becoming rampant.

They came close to scoring again after a brilliant run from Wayne Pither was stopped just short of the line.

Burnham found themselves down to 14 men as a result of an extremely early tackle.

Moments later Larry Steward crashed over to score another try which was converted opening up a 20-point lead. Burnham then scored a try on the stroke of half time bringing the score to 20-7.

Burnham started the half strong and scored a try soon after the restart making it 14-20 and the game far from over.

Pethy rallied and again the momentum shifted when Lloyd Steward scored in the corner but the conversion was missed and the score now was 14-25.

The critical blow came when Petherton’s Miles McNeillie was injured leaving them with 14 players for the rest of the game.

The away side scored another penalty but Burnham scored again doing an excellent job of exploiting the extra man.

In the last 15 minutes Pethy’s fate was sealed with three quick fire tries leaving the score at 40-28.

North Petherton’s Lloyd Steward said: “This was an excellent performance by the whole team and despite the disappointing score line the game was very exciting and everything a derby match should be.”