Brilliant victory at Wiveliscombe secures promotion
James Lees showers his ecstatic teammates with champagne!North Petherton achieved the result they desired with an excellent second half performance against Wiveliscombe to claim promotion to the Somerset Premier League. Having played with the slope in the first half against a fired up home side in typically wet and muddy conditions, Pethy dug deep to overturn an 8-0 deficit with a gutsy and determined effort.
They were penned deep in their own half for the first 30 minutes of the match as Wivvey's excellent kicking game helped the hosts dominate from the start. A penalty and a try threatened to ruin Pethy's promotion hopes at the last hurdle, but they responded with a penalty of their own just before half-time to get themselves into the match. They then dominated the second half, showing the same passion and determination evident during last weekend's defeat of Burnham, to score 17 unanswered points. Read the match report here.
All 18 players contributed to what was, in the end, a brilliant effort against a side who Pethy had not beaten away from home for many years. The introduction of Andy Agar and Bradley Archer from the bench proved to be the turning point in the game, and full-back Tom Williams was exceptional throughout, firstly in dealing with a continued aerial bombardment of kicks by the home backs, and secondly by kicking all 4 of his kicks at goal to ease the nerves of his team. The jubilation at the end of the match amongst the players and great number of Petherton supporters was carried over into a long night of celebrating that even a broken down bus could not curtail!
Back in the Petherton clubhouse (from left): Captain Lloyd Williams was rewarded with a stein for leading the club to promotion. Bus driver, linesman, and sometime player Matt Bussell was honoured for some crucial time-wasting near to the end of the match when he jogged the length of the pitch with the first aid box to help a stricken Kev Rybaruk, only to slip over onto his ass, much to the amusement of the crowd. Next to him Tom Williams enjoying a pint for his man of the match performance. On the end, coaches John Evans and Sean Kennelly were also thanked for their efforts over the season.In other results in Somerset 1, Nailsea did all that they could to capitalise on any Pethy defeat with a huge victory at home against Broad Plain. However, it was in vain and they finished in third, two points behind Pethy in second. As expected, Burnham-On-Sea secured top spot with a routine thrashing of bottom side Martock. Crewkerne's defeat at home against Imperial means that they will be relegated along with Martock. All of the weekends results can be seen below.
Tribute Somerset 1 Results - Saturday 19th April 2008
Burnham on Sea 95 - 0 Martock
Combe Down 8 - 5 Keynsham II
Crewkerne 5 - 10 Imperial
Nailsea & Backwell 60 - 3 Broad Plain
Old Culverhaysians 33 - 7 Bristol Barbarians
Wiveliscombe 8 - 20 North PethertonNorth Petherton Seconds also rounded off their season with a good victory at home against Minehead Thirds. That result meant that they finished fourth in the league, six places higher than last season, an excellent effort by the players involved which rounded off a great season for the club. They were denied a third place finish when two of the sides who have struggled to fulfil their fixtures this season - Crewkerne II and Hornets III - were finally removed from the league and all points awarded for victories over those sides were taken away. Also Castle Cary's win meant that they finished third ahead of Pethy on points difference. All of the weekends results can be seen below.
Tribute Somerset 3 South Results - Saturday 19th April 2008
Castle Cary 27 - 5 Wiveliscombe II
Midsomer Norton IV 17 - 47 Taunton III
North Petherton II 29 - 17 Minehead Barbarians III
Wells III 58 - 21 Chard IIIThere are now no more league fixtures until the start of next season in September. The Colts have one remaining match at home on Saturday against touring side Shipston-On-Stour. The club will be taking a touring party of 50 players and members over to Guernsey on Friday May 9th where they will play two matches against Guernsey and St. Jacques. For those not going on tour there is the 3rd Annual North Petherton Sevens tournament on Saturday 10th May which starts at 10:30am.
