Lichfield came out on top in a game of two halves as they saw off the challenge of Burton.
A second half haul of 40 points saw the Myrtle Greens secure the 50-38 win.
The game could not have started any better for the home team. Cal Turner, a major driving force throughout, won back the first kick off. Two phases later and Freddie Wilson had scored in the corner after less than 30 seconds.
Neither side had any great control in the opening quarter, yet Burton scored three tries whenever they approached the red zone. Hooker, James Davies, was driven over from a five metre line out, then the visitors capitalised on a poor clearance kick and even poorer backline defence as Alex Nesbitt scooted over.
Another concerted attack from Burton saw Tristan DeJager cross for the third try. Chaz Bunting converted one of them.
Lichfield needed a score before half time and it came in the last minute. They strung together a series of controlled rucks and eventually created a half-overlap for Paul Maxwell-Keys to slide over and make it 10-17.
It didn’t take long for the hosts to draw level as Wilson made it over the line for his second. Adam Spinner duly kicked the first of his four conversions.
Shortly afterwards, Nesbitt had grabbed a double for himself with a breakout from the away side’s 22.
Parity was restored almost instantly as Maxwell-Keys proved unstoppable from short distance.
Jack Dace, carrying well throughout, became the next player to score two tries. His first was a pick and go from one metre through the middle of the ruck – and he very soon was handing off a Burton defender to sprint over from 15 metres to give Lichfield a 36-24 lead with a quarter of an hour to go.
Substitute Adam McLean should have given Burton momentum when he exposed a narrow Lichfield defence after a series of drives in the left corner.
But it wasn’t to be for the visitors as an overlap was created on Lichfield’s next meaningful attack, but it wasn’t required because Turner sold a lovely dummy to score near the posts and restore the 12 point margin.
With five minutes to go, the lively Maxwell-Keys broke free once more and his kick ahead was not sorted by the Burton cover, allowing Joe Bourne to race around under the posts to seal victory.
There was time for one last score for Burton, who once again went over in their favourite left hand corner. After a series of five metre line outs and penalties, Llyr Griffiths fell over the line and Bunting added a fourth conversion.
It’s a trip up the A38 this weekend for Lichfield as they travel to Derby for a 3pm kick-off.
Elsewhere, the 2nds went to Stafford for a league game and came home with a 71-26 win, with the tries spread evenly around the team to remain third in the table.
Both women’s teams lost narrowly in their respective cup competitions, the red team going down 20-26 to Cheltenham and the green team, after making the exhausting journey to Workington, losing 15-10.
