Yatton vs St Marys OB

9 3

Yatton Scorers - Pens. T Hill 3

‘Yatton clinch it when it matters’.

Last Saturday a large crowd of supporters saw an extremely hard fought contest by two evenly matched sides both desperate to avoid the relegation zone.

Six minutes in Yatton thought that it might not be their day when Tony Hill’s penalty conversion bounced back into play off an upright from 40 metres out.

The nervousness in both sides was evident as a win could determine the outcome of the season. The weight of St Marys pack had the edge in set piece scrums but it was veteran No 10 Dave Keating’s kicking which helped keep Yatton out of trouble in the first half.

At thirty minutes Steve Plummer put the visitors ahead by a penalty but Hill was able to respond during a Yatton break five minutes later.

On the whistle of first half injury time a rare Yatton attack down the wing faltered inches from the line as the tackled winger, uncharacteristically, knocked-on much to the disgust of his team mates.

Again the home side where put under pressure and had to work hard in defence during the third quarter but again a break out brought reward for Yatton through Hill’s trusty boot.

For the final twenty minutes Marys hammered away in the home sides 22. Both sets of exhausted forwards taking it in turns benefit from put-ins at five metre scrums or line outs.

Six minutes into stoppage time yet another rare excursion into the oppositions half was adjudged to have been stopped short of the 22 by an offside, giving Yatton their third penalty conversion. Yatton then held out again within their 22 for the remaining five minutes of play.

There was no doubt that St Marys OB’s had the lions share of territorial advantage but it was Yatton who came away with the points when it mattered.

This Saturday Yatton 1^st XV travel away to Oldfield in the quarter final of the Somerset County Cup. Bridgwater & Albion were ejected for previously playing four ineligible players against the village based side and Yatton were reinstated.