West Norfolk win nail-biter at Bedford

West Norfolk ended Bedford Athletic’s two-year winning streak on home soil with a nail-biting success at the weekend.Some last-minute changes in the starting squad saw West with some players out of position but able to meet the home side’s relentless attacking play from the off.Bedford let some of their key ball carriers take the initial workload and they forced West to move around the pitch in defence, ultimately seeing Hayden Revell taking the ball from the base of a ruck and beating their fullback in a foot race over 40 metres to the line.Jack Wicks opened his personal tally and converted the score to take West into the lead.Not content with losing the advantage to the visitors, Bedford came back quickly and powered over the line with their forwards driving a maul that West could not deflect.The home kicker was unable to convert to West still held the lead.Although West’s pack saw some injuries early on, including that of stalwart Jamie Williamson taking a boot to the head, the visitors were tenacious in their attacking pressure, with Finlay Wilcox intercepting a telegraphed pass to run in West’s second try. Wicks converted once more to take West clear. As both teams continued to contest at every set play, Bedford exploited a brief lapse in West Norfolk’s otherwise solid defence and headed into half-time with another well-worked try to leave the scores 10-14 at the interval.West came out for the second half with intensity, quickly seeing a penalty scored by Hayden before Bedford quickly put their mark on the play and scored a converted try to level the scores.Now that both squads were level, West’s men ramped up their game, determined to keep ahead. A break in Bedford’s line was exploited, with excellent running and link-up play from Fin Wilcox and Angus Williams leading to a try from Wicks – his first for the day – which he duly converted.Not to be outdone, Bedford replied with a penalty score, swiftly followed by an unconverted try to go one point ahead. The game pressure was building on both sides as the match headed into the final minutes of play, with a further penalty for each team putting the score in Bedford’s favour at 28-27.West Norfolk rallied once more, with captain Wicks bursting through the Bedford defence and powering over the line, right between the posts. Once more, his trusty kick saw the try converted.With time rapidly running out on the clock, a moment of madness saw West drop to 14 with a yellow card for Will Allen.This gave Bedford enough scope to attack and through a series of pick-and-drives close to the line and eventually they managed to score with the last play of the match.With both teams and supporters holding their breath, Bedford missed the conversion, meaning West just clinched victory with 33-34.