Aldridge and Exiles end all square

With a strong end-to-end breeze and the slope in their favour, visitors Birmingham Exiles managed to keep us penned inside our half-way line for much of the first-half of this friendly fixture. The stiff breeze meant that only occasionally did we manage to break out and threaten but we put in a stubborn defensive effort and managed to limit the visitors to a single score - hooker Kieran Walters crossing the try line mid way out.
The situation was reversed in the second half and now with the advantages, we fancied our chances. We were creating opportunities but the Exiles defence was also sound and it wasn’t until half way through that we finally managed to find a breach via a rolling maul which shunted the visitor’s pack back over their line-allowing winger Dan McKenna to claim the touch down. Full back Alex Yates added the extras and just five minutes later a miss move by the three-quarters put winger Jay Bromwich in space out wide who crossed into the corner to give us a comfortable looking 12 – 5 cushion and a basis for some optimism. The visitors continued to resist strongly though and although we were putting the phases together, we lacked the tactical nous to find a way through. The status quo remained right through to “last play” when Exiles finally managed to break out and force play up to our line for the last frantic seconds. The ubiquitous penalty was quickly taken allowing centre Dan Williams to cross close to the posts. Winger Alex Gibson converted to even the scores at 12 apiece – a fair reflection.