National Two South

Lydney 31

Shelford 26

LYDNEY made it three wins in a row with this workmanlike rather than spectacular victory at Regentsholme.

The home side took the chances that came their way to score three tries inside 20 minutes.

Shelford came back at them, but Lydney had just enough in the tank to keep them at bay.

Fly-half Craig Jones said: "We were pretty disappointed with the overall performance but the main thing is we won.

"In previous years, we would probably have lost a game like this, but we're developing a winning mentality.

"It's hard to put your finger on what went wrong.

"Maybe it was just one of those days.

"Things didn't go our way and for whatever reason we didn't play to our potential."

Lydney started well enough, racing into a 19-3 lead with some opportunistic finishing.

Tony Wicks outpaced the visiting defence to collect a Chris Holder clearance kick and touch down.

Josh Hannam then hacked on again from the base of a ruck, with Holder sprinting through to grab the decisive touch. Brett Turner converted both efforts.

Andy Daly kicked a penalty for Shelford, but Lydney tightened their grip on the game when the pack stole a Shelford line-out and drove flanker Tim Longton over in the corner.

Lydney struggled to win quality ball and their frustrations were obvious.

Turner booted a couple of penalties, but Shelford cut the deficit to 25-16 at the break with a Ransom try, plus two penalties and a conversion from Daly.

From the restart, Turner punished a high tackle with another successful penalty, but Shelford began to turn the screw.

Centre Grant Anderson made a clean break, popping a scoring pass to prop James Armitage.

Daly and Turner traded penalties, but Lydney hung on to their slender lead.

Craig Jones added: "The way our confidence is growing we believe we can give anyone a game at home.

"My sister doesn't watch much rugby but even she said Saturday's game was scrappy."

Lydney: Tony Wicks, Chris Holder, Brett Turner, Dougie Freeman (Danny Chiu 49), Josh Hannam, Craig Jones, Lee Thomas, Nick Selway, Ben Lewis, Leigh Green, Jim McMahon (Dave Emery 74), James Bashford (Dave Bennett 59), Tim Longton, Will Jones (capt), Paul Scott. Other reps: Rob Sargent, Sam Chappell-Davis.