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Stourbridge Lions 17 - Droitwich 14

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Droitwich travelled to league leaders Stourbridge on Saturday on the back of a poor run of results, and with an ever in creasing injury crisis, but produced one of their best performances of the campaign and nearly pulled off a shock result.

The injury list meant recalls for veteran backrow forward Jon Andrews and the evergreen Rich Pedley to the front row.

Droitwich started slowly and found themselves 12 - 0 down and with a mountain to climb, but inspirational skipper Nick Godfrey rallied his troops and found great support from the tireless Pedley and livewire backs Leon Hopkins and Chris Hooper.

Droitwich fought back in the second half with a short range try from Godfrey. Hooper converted and Droitwich were back in the game.

Good work by Paul Sweeney and Hopkins, playing in the unfamiliar position of centre, gave Simon Pearce the opportunity to scramble over in the corner for Droitwich's second try. Hooper converted the difficult kick to put Droitwich into the lead.

The last few minutes saw the home side pound the Spa line. The pressure eventually told and the heavy Stourbridge pack drove over for the decisive score.

Promotion is now out of the window for Droitwich, although this was a much improved performance. Droitwich must now set their sights on winning their remaining games and achieving a top four finish.

Eight photos from the match are in the gallery.

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