Alcester 3 Pinley 24
Midlands Three West (South)
ALCESTER dropped a place to ninth after Saturday’s defeat against promotion-chasing Pinley despite the visitors being reduced to 14 men three times in the game.
Pinley lapsed on discipline – tallying a high penalty count – but the windy conditions were not ideal for Max Biltcliffe’s boot which only managed to successfully slot over one penalty kick.
Defensively, Alcester started well and managed to hold up the ball over the line after an early try attempt from Pinley.
The home side spent the first 15 minutes without much possession as Pinley did well in keeping the ball in hand.
Jamie Harland was taken out in the air with a no-arms tackle but the referee deemed it “more of a timing issue than it was reckless” and awarded Alcester a penalty rather than any other sanction for Pinley.
Biltcliffe’s penalty hit the posts but dropped the right side of the crossbar to give Alcester their only lead in the game.
The Coventry side then started their attack and their first try started deep in their own half. After running three-quarters of the length of the pitch, a set of good hands allowed them to cross the line in the corner.
The first yellow card for the Coventry side came after persistent infringement but the resultant penalty hit the posts again and this time did not make it over the crossbar.
Alcester were making things too difficult for themselves and were failing to do the basics right as they were plagued with handling errors when they went on the attack, preventing them from capitalising on the extra man.
Five minutes after the sin-binned player was allowed back on the pitch, Pinley lost another man for retaliation after a good, hard-hitting tackle from Jamie Clarke and there were only four points between the teams at the break with Pinley leading 7-3.
In the second half Pinley upped their attack and scored three tries in 20 minutes and, despite the visitors going down to 14 men for the third time, Alcester were unable to score any more points.
Shottery 22 Alcester 2nds 29
ALCESTER 2nds returned to their winning ways of late with victory over Stratford outfit Shottery.
Both teams had scored within the first five minutes of the game but a successful conversion to Louis Hopkins’ try put the Red & Blacks 7-5 up.
Next to score was Hopkins’ step-dad and veteran Scott Carmichael before a penalty kick from Chris Howell put Alcester 15-5 up at half-time.
Joe Sharper opened the scoring in the second half and Alcester looked like they would secure a comfortable win, but Shottery staged a comeback.
The home side scored two tries and brought the score to 22-17 with ten minutes left to play.
Both teams scored again in the closing stages but another successful conversion by Luke Spencer to Carmichael’s second try edged Alcester home.
