Earlsdon 40, Kidderminster Carolians 33

KIDDERMINSTER Carolians produced a spirited display to give the Midlands Division Three West (South) leaders a fright and earn a well-deserved bonus point.

The Marlpool Lane had powered into a 21-12 lead, but were reeled back after the break.

KCs started the game on the attack and opened the scoring in the second minute when Richard Sollom completed a slick move to score, while George Morgan added the extras.

More good handling in the backs put Mitch Hardwick into space and he barged over the try line under the posts for another converted try to give KCs a 14-0 lead.

Earlsdon showed how dangerous they could be with ball in hand when they counter-attacked from a missed kick to touch and scored a well-worked try out wide.

But Sollom bagged his second try of the match and Morgan added the conversion to increase KCs' lead.

Once again the home side stayed in the game and replied with a try.

KCs created another couple of half chances but could not turn them into points but they went into the break 21-12 ahead.

But the hosts stepped up a gear after the break and piled the pressure on Kidderminster.

Full back Jordan Hatch had to leave the field with an injury after a few minutes of the half, with Henry Cook, another Colt, replacing him to make his first team debut.

Earlsdon narrowed the deficit with a third try and soon then scored another soon after to put them ahead for the first time.

Two more touch downs then saw KCs trailing 34-21 but they regained some composure and got themselves back into the game with some good driving play from Rob Delahay and Jack Tunstall.

A scuffle in the centre of the pitch resulted in the referee showing yellow cards to three prop forwards, two from KCs and one from Earsldon, so the next 10 minutes saw uncontested scrums.

A penalty for a late tackle gave Earsldon a further three points, but KCs refused to lie down.

Their six man pack created a period of pressure, with the home side giving away a number of penalties close to their own line.

From one of these, Chris Pinner darted through the retreating defence to cross near the posts for the bonus point try, and with Morgan adding the conversion KCs were now only nine points behind.

A further yellow card, this time for the Earsldon number eight, gave KCs a numerical advantage going into injury time, and they made it pay when Cook scored his debut try wide on the left.

With the conversion missed KCs needed a further try in the final two minutes of the match to snatch victory, but they conceded a penalty which allowed Earsldon to score the final points of the contest.

KCs take on Stourbridge Lions at home on Saturday (2.15pm start).