Alchester 0 – Milton Keynes 14

Alchester 0 – Milton Keynes 14
With a muddy pitch and a cold day this was never going to be a classic game of rugby. Milton Keynes ground out a win against a good Alchester side who were heavily defeated last week by Grove. This was the first game that City had played for 4 weeks due to the poor weather over recent weekends and this did affect their performance
City started the game well with the majority of the possession for the first 20 minutes. The nearest opportunity to a try was a pass out to Dan Rolfe on the wing who managed to evade his opposite winger only to put a foot on the touchline in his efforts to score.
The Milton Keynes scrum was under strain for the first half and it was difficult for the scrum half Robert Lazeby to provide clean ball for the fly half.
Ashley Target made a good break from the halfway line on 25 minutes but the final pass went astray. From the resulting scrum to Alchester Phil Powell intercepted a pass and from 80 metres was able to sprint to the try line.
By half time the away team were 5 points up with no guarantee of win by full time.
The intercepted try proved to be the only try of the game. The MK scrum improved their technique in the second half which improved the availability of the ball to the backs. Both teams worked hard to increase their scores but good defence on both sides meant a stalemate in tries. Phil Powell was able to convert three penalties in the second half making the final score a comfortable win for the away team.
Despite the win and Grove losing to Aylesbury, City remain in third position. Grove remain top and Reading Abbey are in second place. MK have a game in hand. They play at Aylesbury next Saturday, and with a win against Grove, Aylesbury will be looking forward to a match against Milton Keynes.