Biggy let lead slip to lose at Olney

Biggy had a good first half and led at the break. But the wide pitch and fatigue saw them well beaten in the end and they remain rooted to the bottom of the division.

For a quarter of the game they played with just 14 men as they had two men in the bin at different times.

Biggleswade fielded a pretty decent starting line-up considering the current injury list and those unavailable. The pack with Sasha Heath at prop, Liam Panton in at second row and Liam Price as flanker had much the better of their opposite numbers. They won their own scrum ball comfortably and shunted Olney back on several occasions.

With the industrious Liam Dunne squirreling away at the rucks and number eight Michael Hall leading the charges the pack advanced well and created many problems for the home defence.

The three-quarters too had their moments. Tall centre Will Simkins made some devastating breaks. He seemed able to step on the gas and wriggle out of the grasping hands of would be tacklers. His only blot on the afternoon was ten minutes in the bin when he stopped the quick release of the ball at a ruck when a try seemed inevitable.

The back three, wingers Elliott Tunstall and Alex Borg together with full-back Karl Lofty relished the wide open spaces to stretch their legs and create try scoring opportunities.

The first Biggleswade try came after a break by Michael Hall from a scrum was taken on by Luke Haverley who chipped past the Olney defence. Alex Borg won the race for the touchdown. Luke Haverley added the conversion.

Biggleswade went farther ahead with another converted try. It came after a penalty kick to the corner caused panic in the Olney defence and flanker Liam Dunne was the grateful recipient

Then Biggleswade lost their way. Olney took a quick tapped penalty from short range to score an unconverted try. Skipper Dom Nott was sent to the bin for a dangerous tackle allowing Olney in for a second try which was converted.

Turning round two points ahead, Biggleswade soon realised that they had not made the most of the wind advantage in the first half as they were pinned back time and again. Luke Haverley did stretch the Biggy lead with a successful penalty kick but then it was all Olney who scored four more tries and a penalty.

Biggleswade’s only score was a try from Will Simkins who was at the end of a surging move involving many pairs of hands.

This Saturday sees the return tie against Peterborough. The away match was a disaster when Biggleswade had their worst league defeat ever. But at home on their own patch and with more of the self-belief which has been more evident in recent games a win is not impossible and is well overdue.

Biggleswade: D Nott, T Scheibner, S Heath, L Panton, S Bukowski, L Dunne, L Price, M Hall, L Haverley, S Phipps, E Tunstall, W Simkins, M Kendall, A Borg, K Lofty, A Pickering, Matt Hill.