Depleted Pethy battle hard for 2 league points but exit the Somerset Vase

Having gone three weekends without a match North Petherton were faced with two matches in two days at the weekend. On Saturday they traveled to Imperial for a re-arranged league fixture, and on Sunday it was a trip to Somerset Premier side Wells in the second round of the Somerset Vase, a match that had already been postponed twice.

For both matches Petherton were short of many regular backs and to make things worse Club Captain and Fly-Half Lloyd Williams joined the lengthening injury list during Saturday's match at Imperial. The major positive from the weekend for Petherton was the collective performance of their forwards in both games. Read the Imperial match report by clicking here, and the Wells match report by clicking here.

The win over Imperial also took on greater significance for Pethy when Combe Down, who have been in the bottom four all season, won at league leaders Nailsea & Backwell. This has given Pethy some renewed hope of joining the fight for promotion as they are now only two points behind Nailsea, who have now dropped to second place behind Burnham, after being top every week since the beginning of the season. All of the weekends results can be seen below.

Tribute Somerset 1 Results - Saturday 2nd February 2008

Imperial 0 - 12 North Petherton
Martock 10 - 73 Burnham on Sea
Nailsea & Backwell 12 - 15 Combe Down

The Seconds were without a game this weekend as they were able to fulfil their league commitments in recent weeks despite the poor weather and did not have any re-arranged matches to play. There were three other matches in Somerset Three South (see results below), none of which have affected Pethy's league position where they remain in fifth place.

Tribute Somerset 3 South Results - Saturday 2nd February 2008

Burnham on S II 62 - 0 Crewkerne II
Wellington III 0 - 48 Tor III
Wells III 39 - 0 Minehead Barbarians III

Pethy's Under 17s enjoyed a good victory on Sunday morning at home against Burnham-On-Sea. It was a good team performance in windy conditions, during which they scored 19 un-answered points. Tries were scored by Ben Kirkpatrick, Toby Harris and Josh Perrin. Dan Pearce kicked two conversions.

This coming weekend sees Pethy having to travel to Bristol again, this time to Broad Plain. With Burnham and Nailsea playing each other, Petherton must take their opportunity to get back into promotion contention against a side that they have struggled to beat in their recent encounters.

Pethy's Second Team will be hoping that the opposition can raise a side for their match at bottom club Crewkerne who have already had to cancel 5 games this season, including Pethy's home fixture against them earlier in the season.

There will still be a home match this coming weekend when North Petherton's Colts will be playing against Bridgwater & Albion on Saturday afternoon. Kick-off is at 2:30pm.