Hornets registered their ninth victory in a row in a tough derby encounter at Clevedon.

Hornets 17 pts

Clevedon 15 pts

HORNETS made the short trip up the M5 for the local derby against Clevedon and came away with a hard-fought victory.

The home side started brightly and with a new-look team from earlier in the season, it was clear Hornets were going to be in for a tough match.

Hornets took the lead when Cornish caught a clearance and counter attacked with Littlewood in support. Some neat interplay between the two put Cornish through a gap and allowed him to pass to winger Jones who crashed over for a 5-0 lead.

The score remained the same for most of the first half and the play became increasingly scrappy and fiesty. Hornets applied pressure with Parker, Harris and Cheeseborough taking the attack to Clevedon.

Littlewood and Kent got involved in what was becoming an intense and sometimes unpleasant battle of the forwards.

Hornets remained composed and a scrum led to a further score with the ball being distributed quickly by Disney and Jack Gadd breaking the line in midfield and touching down. Jones added the conversion for a 12-0 lead.

After this, an unsightly brawl broke out, resulting in a period of chaos and ultimately a red card for both sides.

The second half saw Clevedon muscle their way back into the game. A series of penalties enabled Clevedon to apply pressure to the Hornets’ line and eventually dart over to bring the score back to 12-7.

Both sides cancelled each other out for long periods of the second half, but it was Clevedon who added further points through two penalties to push ahead at 15-12.

Hornets had to call upon all their composure and experience and stated by retaining possession and got back on the front foot with a series of penalties and from some accurate line-outs set up their trade mark driving mauls to apply pressure to the Clevedon line.

This ultimately paid dividends as Disney snatched the ball off the back of the maul and darted over for Hornets’ third try and a 17-15 lead. Hornets held on for the last five minutes and in fact came close to the fourth and bonus point try.

When the final whistle cam Hornets were jubilant with what was possibly their hardest fought victory of the campaign so far.

Hornets extended their winning run to nine games and look forward to the Christmas break.