Hakes Narrowly Defeated on the Road
Bridgwater & Albion 24 v 20 St Ives
Last Saturday St Ives travelled to Somerset side Bridgwater & Albion for their latest South West One West League game. This would be a tough fixture against a side just above them in the league. A heavy defeat at much lower placed Thornbury two weeks ago would be in everyone’s mind.
A strong looking St Ives squad travelled to the match and the Hakes started well when Dan Magee kicked a penalty when the home side were found to be offside giving St Ives an early 3 points to nil lead only 2 minutes in.
The Hakes advantage was doubled to 6 points with another penalty from Magee on 17 minutes. Good defence from St Ives kept the inevitable Bridgwater attacks at bay until the 39th minute when the home side secured their first points of the match through a converted try to give the home side a 7 points to 6 lead. Bridgwater added a penalty in the final play of the half to lead at the break by 10 points to 6; a disappointing end to a good half.
St Ives started the second half well and soon retook the lead with a try from skipper Tom Nicholas, Joe Parma added the extras to make the score 10-13 with 42 minutes played. Tom’s try places him level with Jamie Prisk, as top try scorer on twelve, going into the last home match against Hornets prior to the awards being presented.
St Ives continued to penetrate the home defence and were soon rewarded for their efforts with a try and conversion for Dan Magee in the 65th minute to extend the Hakes advantage to 10 points at 10-20. This tipped his personal tally to just over 150 points for the season in twenty appearances.
The hosts were desperate to get something from the match though and began to press hard. They broke through the solid looking Hakes defence for a converted try in the 70th minute to cut St Ives advantage to just 3 points at 17 points to 20,
With St Ives beginning to hang on for the narrow victory the pressure began to increase and sure enough Bridgwater crossed for the match winning try in the 77th minute which was again converted to make the final score Bridgwater 24, St Ives 20. Once again, the unfortunate Hakes narrowly missed out. This was their fourth losing bonus point in five defeats in the last six games. As a result St Ives slip back to 6th in the league table, two points behind North Petherton and 3 points ahead of the side below them, Devonport Services. The remaining fixtures for these sides make it likely that this will be where the Hakes finish.
This coming Saturday sees the Hakes play their last home game of the season when they host Hornets at Alexandra Road. Kick-off is scheduled for 3:00pm. After the match the end of season awards will be hosted followed by evening entertainment including Sandy Acre 7 from 8:00pm. Tickets are on sale. Please see the club website for details.
St Ives: Ben Taylor, Rob Elloway, Leigh Hocking, Jamie Prisk, Chris Fuca, Joli Volaisaya, Chris Quick, Martyn Lawrance, Alistair Stacey, Grant Thirlby, Dan Magee, Joe Parma, Tom Nicholas (Capt), Liam Jolly, Jack Kessell.
Replacements: Connor Bick, Aden Brassington (all used).
