Beverley 2nds travelled across the Humber on Saturday to face Cleethorpes 1st team after original opponents Marist called off on Thursday.
Playing with a slight breeze behind them Beverley started slowly and never really got out of 2nd gear all match in what proved to be their toughest encounter for several weeks.
Cleethorpes registered the first points of the match from a penalty as Beverley failed to adapt to some indifferent refereeing and were continually penalised throughout the game. However from a period of controlled rugby, a good kick chase was rewarded when winger Luke Berzins charged down an attempted clearance for him to gather and score in the corner. Conversion missed.
This should have set the Beavers up for the afternoon but another needless penalty given away straight from the restart saw Cleethorpes retake the lead with a fine long range penalty. The game was being played pretty much in the middle of the park but from a seemingly harmless position on their own 10 metre line a dropped pass was hacked through for Cleethorpes to win the chase and touch down in the corner.
Beverley were now becoming their own worst enemies with constant back chat to the referee pinning them in their own twenty two. A five metre scrum on their own line was disrupted by the big Cleethorpes pack and after being penalised more back chat saw Ian Archibald sin binned. Cleethorpes took advantage of their numerical advantage to score another converted try in the corner after moving the ball quickly from right to left.
This did seem to finally spark some life into Beverley and after applying some pressure in the Cleethorpes twenty two a powerful burst through by centre Simon Johnson saw him cross the line for a try converted by Alex Smith.The second half started just like the first with Cleethorpes pressing in the Beverley half and again they took the first points on offer with a nicely taken drop goal by their stand off. Beverley started to show glimpses of their previous weeks form only for sloppy handling and poor kicking giving possession away needlessly.
Former first team captain, playing his first game for almost two years, showed his quality with a couple of nice breaks only for the support play to be lacking and the moves coming to nothing. More Beverley pressure was rewarded however when from a penalty close to the Cleethorpes line Archibald took a quick tap and went over for a try he converted himself.
By now Beverley, showing more composure, had a foot-hold in the Cleethorpes half with Manu Kirkwood, Chad May and Captain Rob Vaux all carrying strongly Cleethorpes started to concede penalties in an effort to hold Beverley at bay. Good lineout play with Eddie Greenall and Phil Cromie allowed Beverley to set up good positions, although Cleethorpes defence held out until they infringed again and Archibald slotted the resulting penalty for Beverley to retake the lead and within minutes added three more points as Cleethorpes piled over the top of a ruck in front of their own posts.
With time almost up Cleethorpes launched one last attack but Beverley comfortably held out to record victory number seven from eight matches so far this season, 25-21.
