LYDNEY 19

BOURNEMOUTH 8

THEY'RE still in the thick of a relegation scrap, but at least this victory in the Regentsholme mud keeps Lydney' s season alive.

Both sides started nervously in front of a bumper crowd of more than 600.

Dan Pollard missed a penalty for the visitors, but Lydney drew first blood when Tony Wicks stepped through a broken defence and found Paul Price in support to crash over. Wicks converted.

The driving maul was a powerful weapon that kept Lydney on the front foot.

Wicks kicked two penalties to Pollard's one to nudge Lydney into a 13-3 half-time lead.

Conditions deteriorated further in the second half and Lydney came out for the second half in changed shirts.

Bournemouth mauled their way over the Lydney line to score an unconverted try through Chris Hughes.

The visitors had Dan Connolly sin-binned for not rolling away, then Andrew Edwards joined him on the sidelines following a high tackle.

Two more Wicks penalty gave Lydney breathing space and denied their relegation rivals a losing bonus point.

For more read The Forester.