Hornets carry on their unbeaten run to the season.

FORCED into making five changes to the side that won against Gordon League, Hornets welcomed Old Centralians to Hutton Moor.

With both sides coming into the game having won their first two fixtures in the league, it was always going to be a tight affair as top of the league played third.

It was Old Cents that opened their account first through a penalty after 15 minutes and it wasn’t long before Hornets made a breakthrough. With Cents down to 14 men following a sinbinning, Hornets kicked for the corner and drove the ensuing line-out for Dave Bird to touch down. Sam Lloyd-Jones was successful with the conversion.

Shortly before half-time, Hornets lost Jake Fereday to a yellow card and directly from the penalty, Cents scored a try which was converted and the visitors went into the break leading 10-7.

As the second half got underway and with Hornets still a man down, the visitors extended their lead following a successful penalty.

However, as Hornets introduced Sam Holland as replacement for Fereday at the end of his suspension, and also replaced Harry Nash with Luke Grimes, Hornets went on the attack.

Moments later the crowd were celebrating as Matt Cornish finished off a fine individual try that had started in his 22 with a chip over the defence. He gathered the ball and raced past the remaining tacklers to score out wide. Unfortunately the conversion was missed, but Hornets were back in the game, trailing by a point.

More Hornets’ pressure led to a spell where the hosts were awarded a number of penalties in their guests’ 22. This led to the Cents prop seeing yellow and Hornets kept the pressure on by running the penalties rather than taking the option to kick at goal.

With Old Cents now down to 14 players again, Hornets kicked to the corner and in a carbon copy of their first try, made the extra man count as they drove over the line for Dave Geddes to touch down with 10 minutes to go.

The conversion attempt failed but Hornets had the lead for the first time since the end of the first half. Cents were not going to give up without a fight and threw everything at the hosts in an attempt to get back on top.

Having soaked up this pressure, Hornets broke out and were unlucky not to get the bonus point try, instead having to settle for a final Lloyd-Jones penalty to make the score 20-13.

On Saturday, Hornets make the short trip to Yatton (3pm) for what will undoubtedly be a big game.

Midsomer Norton 3rd XV 33

Hornets 3rd XV 27

Hornets 3rd XV travelled to Midsomer Norton in their latest Somerset III North fixture.

Hornets broke the deadlock when scrum-half Rob Owen broke from his own 10 metre line into the opposition 22 where Sean Seadman was on hand to score the opening try. Norton fought back quickly with an unconverted try of their own.

The Hornets tight five, in particular Dave Jones and Howard Evans, started to take control of proceedings as Hornets scored three tries in the next 15 minutes through Owen, Robbie Jones and Connor Hull. Norton responded with a drop goal and a try to make it 20-13 to Hornets at the break.

Norton continued their revival as they scored a converted try and a penalty to take the lead. An excellent turnover from man of the match Ben Briffit gave Hornets some rare quick ball on their 10 metre line and Connor Hull outpaced the defence to score, which was converted by Owen to give the lead back to Hornets.

Norton hit back with a converted try and the final nail in Hornets coffin came from another penalty to make it 33-27 to Norton.