ALTHOUGH the 39-17 scoreline suggests a comfortable win for Bletchley over Stow, the game was actually a pretty even affair.

Southern Counties North

Bletchley 39

Stow 17

Stow managed plenty of possession and threw the ball about but failed to capitalise on many of the chances they created.

It was Bletchley who opened the scoring with a penalty try and they increased their lead with a score in the corner.

An Alex Kelly penalty hit the post then Stow went down to 14 men following a yellow card. However, it was Stow who scored next; good attacking play resulted in the ball going wide where prop Dan Savage was lurking and his bullish run took play close to the try line before a neat offload saw Richard Huggett scoring in the corner.

Bletchley hit back again with a try from their speedy backs but this was quickly cancelled out when Andrew Piercy made a break and Bradley Wrench scored out wide with Kelly converting.

The game was nicely poised (17-12) at the break though Stow lost another player to the sin bin early in the second half.

This was followed by two more yellow cards for the home side but only after they had secured their bonus-point fourth try.

When back to full strength Stow were unfortunate to go further behind when Bletchley scored again but only after the linesman had signalled the ball was out of play before changing his mind.

Stow had more bad luck when Piercy had the ball knocked out of his hands over the try line but this was redressed when Craig Chapman scored Stow's third and last try. Stow then began to count the cost of several players carrying injuries and Bletchley finished them off with two late breakaway tries.