Gordano................9

Stroud..................21

THIS was a somewhat fortunate victory for Stroud.

Earlier, Stroud welcomed back Mike Alley, Rob Higgins and James Bashford.

Gordano started with intent and it was soon apparent that they had a very strong pack particularly in the scrum. Stroud however achieved parity in the lineouts and contested loose ball well.

Stroud opened the scoring- they won ball in their own half and it came out to Sam Hester, he passed to Dan Gordon who ran strongly making a long break before passing to winger Finlay Sharp.

He had a lot of work to do but he swiftly evaded two defenders before heading to the posts swerving around the full-back who was left rooted to the spot. Joe Ashenford converted to make the score 7 -0.

Gordano responded with a penalty goal after hammering away at the Stroud line.

Stroud defended heroically, but they conceded another penalty shortly afterwards 7-6.

Both sides exchanged penalties shortly before half-time leaving score then 10-9.

Sharp was able to gain a second try after a long miss-pass by Gordon.

Stroud were now reeling somewhat from a series of injuries and with Phil Fruin and Ollie Smith off the field the referee decided to have uncontested scrums -this was a bonus for Stroud.

It did mean however that Stroud were reduced to 14 players, but their superior fitness levels were beginning to show and they began to stretch the Gordano defence.

Coach Sam Viggers came off the bench and made an immediate impact bringing the best out of the Stroud players leading by example with his fierce tackling and feisty runs.

Two late penalty goals by Ashenford sealed a victory which looked very unlikely in the first half.

Next up: Matson, Saturday, October 3 (h).