Petherton fail to sparkle but gain valuable win over Winscombe

North Petherton failed to produce anything like their best form at the weekend as they laboured to a narrow victory away at Winscombe. In slippery conditions, Petherton managed to grind out a win they needed to keep up their interest in the promotion battle following defeat in their last outing at Burnham. They fought very hard to stay in the game, defending strongly throughout and allowing the hosts speedy back three little room to exploit their pace.

After struggling in their last league match, Pethy's forwards gained the upper hand, with flankers Mike Taylor and Matt Brown instrumental throughout in securing possession and stealing Winscombe ball at the breakdown. However, a constant stream of conceded penalties, a continuing problem for Pethy no matter how harsh it seemed to those watching on the sidelines, meant that they often squandered good positions and handed the ball back to Winscombe.

A rare moment of quality saw Pethy take the lead in the first half when a quick pass back inside by Lloyd Williams near the left side of the Winscombe 22 was collected by full-back Tom Williams, who ran a great line to dive over in the corner. Two penalties gave the home side a narrow 6-5 lead at half-time, but Pethy's territorial dominance after the break was finally rewarded ten minutes from the end when Tom Williams calmly slotted over a difficult penalty to win the game. Read the match report here.

The other results in the Somerset Premier league saw leaders Burnham-On-Sea maintain their lead at the top of the table with a narrow one point victory over Bristol Harlequins. Old Sulians remain rooted to the bottom of the table after their 12th defeat from 12 matches, whilst Stothert & Pitt continued their recent return to form with a big win over Wells. All of the weekends results can be seen below.

Tribute Somerset Premier Results - Saturday 20th December 2008

Burnham on Sea 26 - 25 Bristol Harlequins
Chew Valley 38 - 7 Old Sulians
Midsomer Norton 12 - 20 Chard
Stothert & Pitt 40 - 8 Wells
Tor 34 - 11 Avon
Winscombe 6 - 8 North Petherton

North Petherton Seconds were left frustrated as Tor Thirds had to postpone their encounter thanks to a waterlogged pitch. In other results, Castle Cary kept up the pressure on leaders weston Thirds with a good win over Wivvey Seconds, whilst Chard Thirds ran away with it at Winscombe Thirds. All of the weekends results can be seen below.

Tribute Somerset Three South Results - Saturday 20th December 2008

Castle Cary 29 - 0 Wiveliscombe II
Morganians 21 - 5 Wellington III
Wells III 19 - 7 Minehead Barbarians III
Winscombe III 0 - 97 Chard III

North Petherton's Firsts now have three weeks off over christmas until they resume their league campaign with a tough and potentially pivotal encounter away at Tor on the 10th of January. Tor are one place above Pethy in the table but only by points difference at the moment. North Petherton Seconds and Colts have only two weeks off until the 3rd of January when the seconds travel to Wells Thirds and the Colts travel to Bridgwater & Albion. The Third Team's next match is away to Frome Fourths on the 10th of January.