DRYBROOK and Lydney entertained a large crowd at The Mannings with a fascinating local derby that went down to the last play.

Both sides lost narrowly on the opening day of the season last week and so were looking for a first win of the new Regional One season.

Drybrook prop Dean Jelf was making his 150th appearance for the club while on the bench, making their debuts were Ollie Minnis and Sam Grimshaw.

With eight players injured, Lydney had to reshuffle the side, bringing in Costner Lane and Gareth Winter at prop with Phil Williams moving into the second row and Jordan Fowke and Liam Downer joining Mars Slee in the back row.

In the backs the only change was Brad Dunn back on the wing.

The injuries forced Lydney to include Rob White and Luke Hudson on the bench who both had played the previous evening in Lydney’s second team game win over Drybrook seconds and Sam Arnott having to make an immediate return from retirement to help out at scrum-half, writes Roger Pike.

The hosts started the better and had the Severnsiders under pressure in the opening encounters, .

Drybrook went close but a knock on ended their attack close to the line.

Continued pressure saw the hosts win a penalty which Tom Treherne calmly knocked over for 3-0.

The visitors created a couple of breaks through Henry Sleeman and Joe McClean but the game remained fairly even in the first quarter.

Both sides had opportunities but the match remained scoreless.

A poor clearance kick saw the hosts deep in Lydney half to win another penalty but the relatively easy kick was put wide by Treherne.

The Severnsiders started to get some good possession and put pressure on the hosts’ defence.

Some good forward drives from Walter, Harrison Fowke and Winter moved them deep into the hosts’ 22m area and forced a penalty.

The official had little option to bin the Drybrook forward and from a quick tap Brad Barnes caught the home defence napping and touched down to give Lydney the lead at 3-5.

Drybrook responded with some pressure of their own from the kick off and won another penalty in midfield which Treherne kicked to get the lead back at 6-5 which remained the half-time score.

The second period started relatively evenly with the Severnsiders looking the more dangerous in attack.

Drybrook earned another penalty for offside and the unlucky Joe Hamlin was sent to the bin.

Again they opted for the kick and Treherne extended the lead to 9-5.

Lydney managed out the time with 14 players and looked the more likely to score with some good drives from Jordan Fowke and Walter with Phil Williams winning some secure lineout ball to set up attacks.

The Severnsiders did win a penalty on halfway but the kick from Barnes fell just short.

Lydney emptied their bench on 60 minutes with Arnott making a major impact managing the game at scrum half.

Lydney were now camped in the Drybrook half but despite good moves in the backs with Dunn, Sleeman and McClean the hosts kept them out.

The pressure was telling and another penalty saw Barnes kick to the corner.

Williams secured the line out and a couple of forward drives saw Arnott spin a quick pass to Joe McClean on a diagonal run to go clean through the defence to score Lydney’s second try.

Barnes kicked the conversion and the Severnsiders had a deserved lead at 9-12.

Despite Drybrook throwing everything at Lydney in the last five minutes the defence was solid.

After several attacking phases where Drybrook looked to punch through the defence, they resorted to a risky long pass.

It did not come off and the referee immediately blew for full time to give Lydney the narrowest of wins.

Lydney Director of Rugby Arnott said: “We needed a reaction from the players after last week’s performance and really pleased with the response.

“We trained hard this week and the coaches helped put right last week’s issues for a much-improved performance.

“Yes, we still have lots to work on but we are a young improving side.

“To win a local derby is never easy, they are a good experienced side at this level, we stuck to our game plan so really proud of the character we showed today.”

Drybrook: Dean Jelf, Calan Williams, Mike Addis, Glen Nott, Will Greenway, Kyle Frowen, Bailey Watts, Mitch Bourne (capt), Dylan Coetzee, Dillon Worsley, Ryan Chappell, Ben Large, Danny Price, Ollie Moore, Tom Treherne. Replacements: Ollie Miinis, Sam Peaper, Sam Grimshaw.

Lydney: Costner Lane, Harrison Fowke, Gareth Winter, Phil Williams, James Walter, Liam Downer, Mars Slee, Jordan Fowke, Tom Broady, Brad Barnes,  Joe Hamlin, Brad Dunn, Joe McClean, Henry Sleeman, Alex Nelmes. Replacements: Luke Hudson, Rob White, Sam Arnott.