LICHFIELD suffered defeat at the death as Bridgnorth claimed a 31-24 victory.
The pitch was heavy underfoot and both sides found it tough as the game became a forwards battle.
The visiting Myrtle Greens started well and after three minutes were 3-0 up thanks to a Henry Nevitt penalty.
They continued to look comfortable with or without the ball for the opening 20 minutes, but a misread in the midfield left them with an overlap to deal with and flanker Adam Ellis was able to run in from 30 metres as the drift defence shuffled too far across. Elliot Murphy converted.
Lichfield’s response was immediate, as they pinned down the hosts in their red zone and Ollie Green scored near the posts. Nevitt added the first of his three conversions.
Bridgnorth were competing better as the half wore on and their forwards drove to give Haloti Molitika their second try, which Murphy again converted.
As half time approached, the home side tried the same tactics, but after several minutes of stern defending, Lichfield escaped and reached half time 14-10 down.
The visitors started the second half well and it was they who repeated those forward driving tactics for Harry Hitchen to cross from short distance.
There was almost an expectation that Lichfield would start to dominate at 17-14 in the lead, but that did not occur. Two quickfire tries went the way of the Shropshire side. Firstly, Jake Francis was driven over from a line out and then full back Jack Cole exploited some disappointing blind side defence to score with ease.
The Myrtle Greens needed to raise their game and they did. Even more bombardment of the Bridgnorth line followed and, with the home side down to 13, Kieran Higgins was able to walk his try in. Nevitt’s touchline conversion brought the sides level at 24 each with just over ten minutes to go.
Both sides let opportunities slip, but just as the game seemed to be heading for stalemate, an errant hand in a cover tackle was deemed to have prevented a score and a penalty try was awarded to hand the hosts the victory.
