LICHFIELD kept their title hopes very much alive with victory in an entertaining clash against West Bridgford.
The result – coupled with Dronfield being without a fixture – means the Myrtle Greens returned top spot with five games left to play.
Fans at Cooke Fields had to wait 20 minutes for either defence to be breached. West Bridgford felt the pressure from the home forwards and were penalised three times close to their line. The attacking intent continued with Rhys Davies propelling himself over the line.
It was not long before Ditch Burton copied him with an unstoppable line.
The visitors had not posed too many issues in attack, but two far from perfect passes unlocked the home side’s defence for the first time and left wing Stephen Terera scored in the right hand corner.
The momentum was still with the home side though and Burton mimicked his first effort with Kai Lucas-Dumolo converting for a 17-7 half-time lead.
The second period started with West Bridgford under constant threat and they were starting to struggle to contain the encouraged home side, who had had to bring on Will Pearce for his debut with Jack Dace limping off.
The dam broke when Josh Butler spied a gap and Paul Maxwell-Keys was over by the sticks for the bonus point try, converted by Lucas-Dumolo again.
It was not long before Freddie Wilson was in the right place at the right time for the fifth and decisive score.
The intensity by both sides did not drop off, but West Bridgford were unable to break down a very mean defence.
But in the final period, Lichfield found themselves infringing too often – and with it a few complaints – so they suddenly had to play with 13. Their defence remained suffocating until the visitors found a way to score through wing Benjamin Henriquez. Gunn added a second conversion to end a splendid afternoon’s entertainment.
