Bromyard 10 pts Tenbury 12 pts

TWO-try Andrew Wilkes was Tenbury’s hero in their local derby victory at Bromyard but he insists they must play much better to keep alive their promotion dreams.

The fly-half bagged two first-half tries to put Tenbury 12-0 ahead at the Clive Richards Sports Ground but Bromyard hit back.

Will Gough was sin-binned for persistent foul play in the second-half and Pete Stevens’ men defended bravely as they held on for a hard-fought win.

Tenbury are now third, just four points adrift of table-topping Uttoxeter after nine wins from 12 league matches in Midlands Four West (North).

“We didn’t play very well and we must play a lot better,” said Wilkes, who was delighted with Tenbury’s league double on a heavy pitch.

“Hopefully, we can progress and get promotion. Bromyard are a physical team and I think we should have played much better. We got the win and that’s all that matters.”

Tenbury host Five Ways OE at Palmer’s Meadow this Saturday and will be aiming to avenge a defeat from earlier in the campaign.

They will be missing Jack Brain, who is returning to the army until mid-March.

Stevens said: “When we played at Five Ways, it was our first away loss.

“We are going to have a good training session this week and I think we will be OK at home.

“Palmer’s Meadow is our stomping ground and we don’t lose many games there.”

Third-from-bottom Bromyard were watched for the first time, last Saturday, in match action by their coach, Ollie Frost, the Worcester Warriors’ scrum-half.

And Tenbury were cheered on by a band of vocal supporters who had made the short trip.

Wilkes touched down for an unconverted try in the 20th minute after a close-range scrum to deservedly put Tenbury ahead.

He added a second try in the 34th minute after gathering a neat chip ahead from Ben King, who slotted the conversion.

Wilkes almost completed his hat-trick in the second-half but was hauled down a metre short of the line by Tom Morris, who also raced back to deny King a try.

Chris Rowberry kicked a first-half penalty for Bromyard, who dominated territory in the second period. They scored a 67th-minute converted try from Bazil Cross and the hosts put Tenbury under intense pressure in a hard-fought finale.

Will Morgan worked hard after coming on as an early replacement while King missed two tricky penalties in the first-half.

Captain Stevens said: “We gave away some silly penalties and Bromyard put us under a lot of pressure. “It’s always a tough battle at Bromyard but it was a very sweet victory.”