Wednesbury dig in to earn a draw
Wednesbury stood firm to gain a deserved reward at home to Midlands 3 West (North) promotion hopefuls Old Saltleians, writes Nick Elwell.
A physical contest, that saw Old Salts have a player sent off, ended all square at 10-10.
Wednesbury led 7-0 but saw their good work undone just before the break when they shipped in two tries.
But they claimed a share of the spoils with the only score of the second period, when Matt Dale held his nerve to convert a late penalty.
Wednesbury coach Gary Summers was pleased to see his side’s efforts rewarded but left counting the cost of two lapses in concentration that were capitalised on by the visitors.
“It was a good game on the whole against a very strong team,” said Summers.
“It was a shame the lads couldn’t hold on to the win. I think they deserved it.
“Two lapses in concentration cost us two tries and we didn’t make the most of our opportunities.
“The beer would have tasted sweeter with a win.”
Wednesbury found themselves under early pressure as Old Salts pushed for a score but the home defence stood firm.
Summers’ men then started to take the game to their second-placed visitors with the pack leading the way.
Wednesbury’s cause was helped when Old Salts had a player sent off for allegedly throwing a punch.
And they made their numerical advantage count when the ball was spun out wide to winger Karl Wood and he raced down the pitch, evading a number of desperate tackles to go over for the try. Dale added the conversion.
But Old Salts rallied as half-time approach and grabbed two unconverted tries to lead 10-7 at the interval.
Wednesbury applied plenty of pressure during a gruelling second half but couldn’t find a way through a resolute Old Salts defence.
But with the clock ticking down their efforts were finally rewarded when Dale slotted over a penalty to level the scores.
Wednesbury are on the road this weekend when they travel to Cleobury Mortimer.
Burntwood took advantage of Old Salts’ slip to move to within three points of their promotion rivals with eight games to go thanks to a hard-fought 29-22 success at Eccleshall.
A trip to Edwardians awaits Burntwood on Saturday.
