ALTON SILVERBACKS 17 vs. BOURNEMOUTH II 12

There were many positives from this match as Alton Silverbacks beat Bournemouth II 17-12 in this battle at the bottom of Hampshire Counties 1 at Anstey Park.
Firstly, Alton welcomed some stalwarts like Luke Parratt and George Pantrey back to the squad for their first games of the season and unlike recent weeks, Alton were even afforded the luxury of even naming some substitutes.
For large parts of this game, they dominated territory and possession, but it was always a tight affair and Alton welcomed the final whistle despite their superiority.
Alton started brightly enough as Bournemouth conceded 2 early penalties and with only 5 minutes played, Joe Gwyther and Lewis New combined to give Simon Lerigo the first try in the corner that Gwyther superbly converted.
In the set piece, Alton possessed the greater aerial ability and height through Leo Gardner and Tom Smethurst, but Bournemouth had the edge in the scrum. The home side looked more likely at this stage to extend their lead, but whilst the error count was even, Alton conceded 11 penalties in the opening half, and this did not enable them to launch any period of sustained pressure.
Gwyther’ s fine kicking game was a feature throughout and even when he just failed to find touch then up stepped Jeremy Powell moments later who launched an audacious 50:22 kick as Alton pressed up the slope.
With Gwyther linking well with the irrepressible Oli Fielder in the centre, Alton nearly broke the line on a couple of occasions. Flanker Powell was now getting a taste for the kicking game, but Bournemouth defence gathered his grubber kick and stood strong.
However, for all their efforts, it was Bournemouth who finished the half strongly and scored two scruffy looking tries in the last 5 minutes. 7-12 at half time.
With the benefit of the infamous Anstey slope in the second half, Alton regathered their composure and played nearly the entire half in their opponents’ territory as it was now Bournemouth who were guilty of repeated infringements.
As Alton turned the screw, Bournemouth were proving resilient in defence but the Gwyther – Fielder combination worked well again as Fielder gleefully went over in the corner. There was soon more pressure on Bournemouth who had very little momentum going forward, and it was the Alton forward pack that held the upper hand now in loose play too.
Another slick move down the left saw winger Harry Devonshire leap in to give Alton the lead after 57 minutes and this concerted Alton pressure was now to be the pattern for the rest of the match.
Bournemouth had a player sinbinned and with a man advantage, Alton pushed forward in search of a bonus point try. Karter Whittock assumed the mantle of punching holes in the Bournemouth defence after Fielder had to leave the pitch, but the fourth try proved to be elusive
With the light dimming and time running out, Bournemouth took some chances, but they were still struggling to get to halfway and Alton’s defence never looked really in trouble.
A good all-round performance from the whole squad which will give them some much needed confidence when they travel to Portsmouth on the 26th of November