Burton’s hopes of a fourth successive league victory were dashed by a powerful Bridgnorth team who denied a dangerous looking Burton attack of possession, particularly in the second half when they were playing into a strengthening, cool September breeze. Following the recent passing of former Burton player Matt “Dibby” Hill a minute’s silence was held in his honour prior to kick-off.
The game started in explosive, but positive fashion from the Burton perspective, as they opened the scoring with the very first passage of play which included a superb handling move from left to right with Henry Knox scoring an excellent try in the right-hand corner. Will Simpson’s attempted conversion was held up in the breeze, but Burton had the lead with less than a minute gone. Burton 5-0 Bridgnorth.
Burton continued their positive start as they ran the ball back at Bridgnorth drawing a penalty for a high tackle just inside the 10-metre line on the left. Despite Jamie Dutton’s kick staying in play Burton did win the throw at a line-out on the left following a Bridgnorth clearance. Llyr Griffiths caught well at the line-out and the ball reached Knox in some style, but he was unable to breech the Bridgnorth defence on this occasion. Bridgnorth cleared the ball up field where Dom Tydeman caught well and then linked with his teammates as Burton again looked to utilise their handling skills to good effect. The move broke down once again, but the home supporters were very pleased with the start their team had made.
Bridgnorth then had their first sustained period of possession but just like their own defensive efforts Burton too were making territorial gain hard to come by and the game remained in the centre of the pitch for some time. Eventually they did manage to get into the Burton “22” but a fine turnover gave Burton possession once again. Forwards and backs alike then combined as Burton eased their way out of their half and when the ball was delivered to Knox again, he was adjudged to have stepped into touch just as the crowd was sensing a second Burton try.
This pattern of play continued for several minutes, and it was clear that neither side was going to breached very easily. Unsurprisingly the next score was a penalty kick, which went to Bridgnorth in front of the posts on the 22-metre line. This was duly converted after around 25 minutes of the first half. Burton 5-3 Bridgnorth. Bridgnorth then found themselves able to take the lead with a further, and somewhat frustrating, penalty, when Jack Barry Neal was very harshly penalised for stripping the ball from a Bridgnorth player even though he was not the tackler? The penalty kick was converted to make the score Burton 5-6 Bridgnorth after half an hour.
Burton were a little frustrated with themselves as some errors crept into their game, but they did not let this frustration get to them and they took the lead again when a Chaz Bunting box kick was well taken in the follow-up by Nesbitt. Despite the ball being spilled in the contact Dutton was on hand to pick up the loose ball just inside the Bridgnorth half and then picked his way through several Bridgnorth defenders before selling an outrageous dummy to the last defender, which enabled him to score under the post with around 7 minutes of the half remaining. Simpson added the conversion. Burton 12-6 Bridgnorth.
A deep re-start kick was well caught by Bunting, and he then cleared the ball up the Burton 10-metre line on the right. As the half drew to a close the game was interrupted by several rather strange refereeing decisions, which had both sets of supporters scratching their heads. Burton had the benefit of a strengthening breeze in the second half, so it was a case of so-far so-good for the home team.
At the start of the second half Stephen Hunt replaced Cal Donnelly and it was pleasing to see that all players who had recovered from injuries the week before were able to continue. Bridgnorth took control of the game in these early minutes, but the Burton defence was once again up to the test and no real threat was made on the Burton line. Makeshift prop Joe Gazzard was then replaced by youngster Williams who was up against a very capable opponent, but he acquitted himself very well in the circumstances. This pattern continued until after 13 minutes Bridgnorth scored their first try of the game as the eventually forced themselves over the Burton line under the posts. A simple conversion was added to take Bridgnorth back into the lead. Burton 12-13 Bridgnorth.
The next few minutes saw Burton enjoy what was to be some rare second half possession where they were able to put the visitors under some severe pressure. Unfortunately, they were not able to convert this into points on the score board and gradually Bridgnorth took control again for a large proportion of the second half. Consequently, there was little to get the home supporters excited about with the exception of a few good defensive tackles and several good clearance kicks to relieve the almost relentless and powerful Bridgnorth forward’s play.
As the half went on it became apparent that Burton were going to have to create something very special to gain what would have been an unlikely but possible victory. Starved of any meaningful possession Burton conceded a second try with just 10 minutes or so left to play. It was a relief that the conversion was missed which meant Burton could cling on to their losing bonus point. Burton 12-18 Bridgnorth. Even this was no easy task as Bridgnorth retained possession for phase after phase. Burton, however, rallied in one final attempt to hang on to their unbeaten record towards the end of the game but were shut out by solid defence from the visitors yet again.
Burton slip to 4th in the league table on 16 points, 2 behind joint leaders, Syston and Derby. A trip to Broadstreet next week will see Burton trying to get back to winning ways but another close fought match is anticipated as Burton have always found them to be a big challenge at their home ground.