Winscombe defeated Nailsea & Backwell by just one point in closely-fought league victory.

Winscombe 15 pts

Nailsea & Backwell 14 pts

WINSCOMBE stretched their unbeaten run to 10 games after a narrow one-point victory over Nailsea & Backwell.

Nailsea mounted the first attack of the game, but then for the next 30 minutes it was all Winscombe as they went into a 15-0 lead.

The opening try for Will Thomas came from a pushover scrimmage and was converted by Steve Pugh.

Straight from the restart, the ball was spread along the backline and recycled for Lewis Podpadec to feed skipper Dan Fryer, who handed on to Simon Thompson, playing his 100th first team game, to make some ground.

A quick clear out at the ruck gave the backs some space to engineer an overlap to send Niall Dunkley on a long run to score in the corner.

The restart saw the visitors on top for the final 10 minutes of the half, until Winscombe broke out and earned a penalty in front of the posts, which Fryer converted.

Although Winscombe’s first-up tackling was below par, it was good enough to deny Nailsea a score. The half finished with an unsuccessful long-range penalty attempt by the visitors

Ryan Robinson was replaced at half-time by Greg Brown, but he was back on the field again 10 minutes later when Aaron Ford went off injured.

Nailsea played a more direct game through their forwards on the greasy pitch and notched up two converted tries, the second coming with only a minute left on the clock.

Winscombe 2nd XV 12 pts

Chew Valley 2nds 7 pts

FOUR penalties from skipper Matt Hoy gave his team a remarkable win over their near neighbours, who had won all previous 12 games this season.

It was a dominant display by the pack, a display off skill in the mud by Oscar Wimshurst and a solid threequarter line.

Having struggled to raise a team earlier in the season, they are now into a good run and with players coming back from injury, are able to field a stronger squad.

It was especially pleasing to welcome back Chris Kitson, who joined the club at the beginning of the season and promptly broke a bone in his leg in a trial game for the 1st XV.

From being relegation strugglers they are now well into mid-table in Somerset 2 North.