Preston Grasshoppers...18, Sedgley Park...37

LESS than two months ago Sedgley beat Preston at Park Lane by 17 points to 12, scoring in the last minute of a very close game.

So a difficult Saturday was envisaged at Lightfoot Green but all the pundits were awry.

Sedgley overwhelmed Grasshoppers with a great performance from all the team.

Truthfully, Preston were never in the hunt.

The chief discrepancy was in the pack where Sedgley totally dominated.

Huw Thomas, Leon Treco and Matt Alcock ruled the front row and the home front three must have been relieved to see Alcock substituted after 60 minutes - only to find out his replacement was the giant figure of Rod Latham who brought them more grief.

In the second row Paul Rees had his best game of the season both in the loose and the line-out, while his partner Paul Arnold was outstanding as always he is.

The Preston back row was closer to matching Fourie, Yates and Senior but were still second best.

With this dominance up front Preston were struggling and couldn't get their talented backs division operating until the last five minutes when they demonstrated just what they were capable of.

Sedgley got off to a whirlwind start, scoring 17 points in the first twenty minutes.

Colin Stephens started the scoreboard ticking with penalties on three and four minutes. Later Stephens fed the ball to Rob Moon who brushed aside four defenders to score on the right, magnificently converted by Stephens who must have changed his boots since the match at Newbury.

In between Preston full-back Glynn, who had an excellent afternoon in both defence and attack, slotted a penalty.

Then, from a line-out on the left, Dave McCormack and Stephens, with quick passes, made the smallest of gaps for hooker Treco to dart over on the left wing and for Stephens to emphasise his goalkicking skills with another

superb conversion. A lapse of Sedgley defence and Preston centre Monaghan slipped through for Glynn to score a 60 yard try and keep 'Hopper's hopes alive, but two penalties by Stephens put Park ahead at 23 - 8.

The next quarter was all Sedgley pressure and desperate defending by Preston. A score was inevitable and from a scrum McCormack and Stephens drew the defence to allow Jon Scales to change the angle of attack and use his strength and speed to score a try, converted by the metronomic Stephens.

Throughout the gap Rob Moon at full-back was coming into the line to put fear into the Preston defence. From his quick thinking, stealing a loose pass on the halfway line, he made the break for Kern Yates to take a perfect

pass and sprint to the line and, yes, Stephens converted.

Time to relax but Preston were alert and from a poor clearance kick Grasshoppers' quick backs ran in a 60 yard try, scored by Glynn. Then, from the restart, a 75 yard effort was scored by Bailey to demonstrate that had

the Sedgley pack not denied them possession then the score could well have been much closer. For Preston Glynn, the entire centre line and their number 7, Welsh, all looked the part buton this day Sedgley would not be denied.

As a final comment, the referee was the same as at Newbury. He must have thought Sedgley had been reborn, so much was the improvement.

SEDGLEY PARK: Moon, Wilcock, Hassan, Scales, Morris, Stephens, McCormack, Alcock, Treco, Thomas, Arnold, Rees, Yates, Senior, Fourie. Replacements: Latham (for Alcock), Roberts (for Treco). Not used: Smith, Stockdale.

Tomorrow at Park Lane, kick-off 2.30, Stourbridge are the visitors. Not the power they were last season but never have they been anything but a very difficult team to beat and Sedgley will need to keep up this form.