Supporters at Peel Croft on Saturday afternoon saw Burton bounce back to winning ways as they continued to build on their recent playing improvements and recorded a solid and deserved 20-6 victory over Scunthorpe. It was obvious inside the first ten minutes that Burton were well up for getting the result they so desperately wanted as they set their stall out with some powerful play. Their forwards took control of most phases and the backs demonstrated that they had the skill and pace to give the visiting backs an uncomfortable afternoon.

Scunthorpe kicked off and Danny Smith gathered the ball and made twenty metres to set up a two further phases of way that ended with Luke Peach putting in a lovely grubber kick to put the ball in touch inside the opposition twenty-two. Will Brooks stole the lineout and the ball was spun out along the line, but unfortunately the last pass was dropped and Scunthorpe cleared. A great take by Jon Parkinson saw Burton set up a rolling maul that travelled over twenty metres before being stopped when collapsed by the opposition. Peach put the resulting penalty deep into the twenty-two but the long throw at the lineout saw the ball lost and Scunthorpe again cleared. But Burton continued to take play to the opposition with several good passages of play as Kelvin Browne and Jon Evans both broke the defensive line to set-up good positions. A good, solid home scrum saw Joel Booth pick-up at No 8 and feed Evans, whose box kick took play to within five-metres of the visitor’s line. Scunthorpe won the lineout to clear, but Dan Smith took the ball to race forward only to see the ball lost.

From the clearance Scunthorpe at last started to drive forward and Burton were penalised for handling in the ruck, but, perhaps poetically, the attempt at goal sailed low and wide. A good break and kick ahead by Peach was kicked clear into the grateful arms of Evans, who fed Dave Archer for him to make a beautiful outside break that took him thirty metres down field. When faced by the covering opposition defence he fed inside to Lawrence Betty who drove forward to force a lineout just passed the visitors ten-metre line. Jon Edwards stole the ball and started a Burton attack that went through three phases before the ball reached Lewis Brooks. He raced forward, beating three defenders in the process, to score an excellent try. Archer’s attempt for the extra points just narrowly missed the uprights and so left Burton leading by five points after twelve minutes play.

From the restart the normally reliable hands of Ian Gilmour fumbled the ball to give the visitors a scrum. But a great tackle by Browne on the opposition scrumhalf saw Burton get a scrum and from this Booth picked-up and charged forward to pass to Browne. But as Burton drove deep into Scunthorpe territory his pass to Betty was knocked-on and the move stopped. However, undaunted, Burton bounced back and after a couple of lost lineouts another powerful Burton scrum saw the ball fed out to Smith who raced fifty-metres up the touchline before being stopped and illegally held. For his efforts the Scunthorpe winger received a yellow card and a ten-minutes rest.

Peach was showing plenty of consistency as the pack took more and more control, with debutant Jim Litchfield always prominent, Burton again started to exert more pressure on the opposition. This resulted in Archer kicking a penalty after Scunthorpe had failed to release the ball to take the score to 8-0.

The restart was taken by Booth and was quickly recycled for Evans, Peach and Browne to drive forward but again the final pass was dropped. Scunthorpe started to attack and drove forward but great defence by Browne, Edwards, Brooks and Booth thwarted their efforts. A freekick to the visitors for pre-engagement at a scrum saw them take a quick tap but the ever-alert Parkinson stooped the move and led to Booth turning over the ball to set-up another Burton attack. But with half-time beckoning Burton’s consistency began to wane as Peach failed to find touch with two successive kicks that allowed the opposition to run back at the Burton line. This pressure saw Burton conceded a penalty in front of their posts for not releasing and Scunthorpe’s kicker duly accepted the offer by putting the ball between the sticks.

Now leading 8-3 Burton’s pack charged after the restart and set up a ruck and Evans broke blind to kick ahead. A nice bounce saw Danny Smith gather the ball and race in for a try that Archer converted to give Burton a 15-3 as the whistle blew for the break.

Burton started the second half brightly running ball out from their own twenty-two and a scrum on halfway saw Booth and Evans link for the latter to put in a rolling kick that went into touch on the visitor’s ten-metre line. But a penalty to Scunthorpe saw them take a quick tap to start a move that was stopped almost instantly as Lewis Brooks put in a great tackle. Brooks was then called into action after a great move involving Parkinson, Booth and Betty saw him get the ball to make thirty-metres with a great burst. He passed to Archer but as the winger was tackled he fed back inside to Brooks who raced over the line to touch down for his second try of the day. From wide out Archer’s conversion was unlucky as it just curled outside the uprights at the last possible moment. Burton now led 20-3 and could be seen to be growing in confidence as the game went on.

An impressive rolling maul followed by another dominant Burton scrum saw Lewis Brooks again break clear for Betty to continue the forward momentum. But Scunthorpe still attacked, but great defensive work by Peach and Brooks and one bone-shaking tackle by Jim Litchfield on his excellent debut stopped this momentum.

Burton rang the changes with Steve Cross and Rob Wakelin replacing Parkinson and Litchfield as Scunthorpe battled to break the Burton defensive line. But with the whole Burton team tackling their hearts out they could find no way through. With twenty minutes to play Jon Edwards was seen to slow the ball release and was sin-binned for a well-earned rest. The resulting penalty saw Scunthorpe take their tally to six points.

Burton now upped their efforts and a typical Gilmour slicing break took play deep into visiting territory and as the ball was spilt and gather to start a break-out Peach’s tackle saw him re-steal the ball to feed Jamie Hamilton, but his pass was knocked on by Brooks. Then a break by Archer saw Hamilton again show his lack of kicking prowess as the ball bounced over the Scunthorpe dead-ball line. A great steal by Browne on halfway saw Peach kick the ball forty-five metres into touch and Edwards returned from his rest period. Rob Wakelin broke and with support from Edwards and Smith made thirty metres before the ball was knocked-on. A great scrum by the Burton pack saw the scrum wheeled and give Burton the put-in for Evans to break blind, but once again the final pass was knocked-on. Jon Crisp came on for Dave Archer as Burton strove to get their fourth try and a bonus point, but time and again final passes inside the opposition twenty-two were knocked on. The game ended was two more tackles by Luke Peach and Lewis Brooks as Scunthorpe tried to run out of defence.