Bonus point win for Athletic in a game of milestones at Olney

In a match they always led, the visitors did enough to win, albeit some way short of the performance levels which they have shown themselves capable of this season.

The game was significant for marking the 300th first team appearance for Ben Middleton as well as the 150th for Andy Ince and the 100th for Lewis Sharp.

In the context of the season it keeps the side in fourth place trailing Broadstreet by five points with two games to play ahead of the visit of bottom club Wellingborough to Putnoe Wood on Friday (7.30pm).

The match started brightly with wing Josh Cassell intercepting an Olney attack and setting in motion a passage of play which ended with back row Lucas Nisbett-Hadaway winning the race to the try line for the opening try, fly half Leo Mortimer adding the conversion in the fourth minute.

Bedford Athletic looked like they were settling into their patterns of play as a series of drives carried play deep into the Olney 22 and allowed prop forward Ryley Longmuir to crash over for the second try in the eighth minute, Mortimer again adding the conversion.

Matters began to unravel a little when a clearance kick was poorly followed up allowing Olney to recover the ball and through a combination of full back Max Hubbard and wing Joe German run the ball back through the whole of the visiting side for a score under the posts that fly half Ewan Fuller converted.

Nevertheless Bedford Athletic seemed to be retaining the upper hand when Rob Watkins stole a home lineout on the hosts 22 and several phases later was on hand to run the try in down the left wing with Mortimer’s conversion extending the lead to 21-7 on 17 minutes.

Thereafter Bedford Athletic started to struggle.

At first they couldn’t clear their lines although they had multiple chances to do so, Olney kept coming back at them taking advantage of a number unforced errors.

Eventually they were running hard at the visiting try line and it was scrum half Ethan Chambers who beat the covering tacklers to pull a try back on 26 minutes.

Bedford Athletic continued to display a lack of urgency and a continuation of the errors meant they found themselves forced further and further back into their own half until Olney hooker Ben Edwards burrowed over for a try on 37 minutes, Fuller’s conversion making the score 21-19.

It was a half that Bedford Athletic had started with cohesion and purpose but then allowed the error count to grow and the work rate plummet, meaning that a distinct lack of urgency allowed Olney into the game as they profited from the visitor’s mistakes.

Bedford Athletic looked to have tightened up at the start of the second half as a series of powerful drives saw Watkins cross for the bonus point try converted by Mortimer on 44 minutes.

The visitors still struggled to get any fluency into their game and when the opportunity arose they now started to kick penalties for points to build score board pressure.

The first effort hit the post before Mortimer was successful on 53 minutes.

Immediately Olney caught the kick off ran round the visiting defence and again crossed the line without a hand being laid on them for a try to replacement back Dan Frossell a minute later.

Fuller made it 31-26. Mortimer again kicked a penalty to gain a two score advantage at 34-26 on 66 minutes but still Bedford Athletic let the advantage slip as from a midfield scrum Olney again exploited the wide channels for a second try to winger German and the third occasion they had crossed the visitor’s line without a tackle being made.

The conversion was missed leaving the lead at 34-31.

In response Bedford Athletic tightened up their game and drove hard at the Olney line.

Forcing several penalties and with a dominant scrum and lineout they should have scored when camped on the Olney line but eventually knocked the ball on.

They won a free kick at the next scrum and from the free kick it was prop Longmuir who charged over for the try that secured the win, Mortimer’s conversion taking him to 16 points in the match.