Seconds hold on at the end for an excellent victory at Wivy

18/10/08 - Tribute Somerset Three South: Wiveliscombe II 8 v 14 North Petherton II

Report by from the Bridgwater Mercury

Wiveliscombe away has not been a happy hunting ground for Pethy Seconds in recent years and this was a record they were determined to end. Pethy started well and looked lethal out wide with winger Bradley Archer coming close to scoring in the opening minutes. However, the first score of the game came from a penalty for the home team.

Pethy rallied and attacked aggressively, leading to Dan Steward drawing his man brilliantly and releasing brother Lloyd who passed his man to run in a try from the half way line.

With the conversion scored, Pethy were beginning to get a stranglehold on the game, and shortly after Mark Sutherland-Earl and Dan Steward combined to setup centre Chris Powell who exploded through the Wiveliscombe defence to score under the post, making it 14-3 at half time.

The second half was a more scrappy affair and Pethy conceded a controversial try late in the game when Mike Stevens has clearly held the ball up over the try line only for the referee to award the try anyway.

This left a tense final five minutes and, with the events of last month's last-minute defeat against Chard fresh in the memory, Captain Mike Coles called everyone together and urged them not to repeat the same mistake again.

Pethy were solid untill three minutes from the close when a fight broke out involving all 30 players, but Pethy held on under pressure to end their poor record and claim one of the league's biggest scalps.