AEI RUGBY 10 ATHERSTONE SECOND XV 23

ATHERSTONE seconds kept themselves in the race for promotion by emphatically taking the scalp of their top of the league opponents.

In the opening stages of the game, Atherstone dominated possession and territory, piling pressure on to AEI's defence.

They were soon rewarded with a try which was picked up at the back of a scrum on the 10m line by Nick Chetwynd, who drove through the opposition to touch down.

Andy Burton added the extras.

The home side responded with their own sequence of attacks which were initially stemmed by superb tackling in particular from Dave Cooper.

Eventually, AEI managed to find a gap in defence to score an unconverted try.

By the end of the first half, AEI had taken a slim lead with a try run in from deep within their half and the try went unconverted to leave the half time score at 10-7.

Paul Moores started the second half well with a storming run up the park and he was unfortunate not to go over for a try.

Dale Cooke, still relatively new to the game, showed his development in tackling and making ground.

Newcomer Adam Evans showed his potential as he too took the ball on with vigour.

His break caused AEI to infringe, thus giving Atherstone the opportunity to draw even with a penalty from Burton that he duly struck.

Chetwynd was having a field day in line-outs, taking his own ball and successfully disrupting AEI's ball.

Atherstone put some excellent phases of play together but all too often the final pass did not go to hand or the ball was spilled forward.

The game went through a phase of evenly-matched attacking and defensive play until eventually AEI conceded a penalty within kicking distance.

Burton added the three points, with another three being added shortly after to open up a six-point lead.

Carl Everitt got his name on the scoresheet after a brilliant run through the defence, planting the ball firmly between the posts to provide an easy conversion for Burton to make it safe at 23-10.

As the game was drawing to a close, AEI launched a sustained assault on the Atherstone line but strong defence from Jon Wright and Evans blocked their way.