Elks fail to recover from poor first half

Elks were uphill in the first half and although they saw plenty of possession they were guilty of far too many knock on’s and ball lost at the contact area.

A speculative kick bounced favourably for Bedford and they took full advantage and attacked to the 5 metre line, Tom Pottinger made a try saving tackle but this was in vain as they recycled and scored soon after, extras added making it 0-7 after 9 mins.

Elks strung together several phases of play but were undone with a knock on near the Bedford line, the ball was cleared but Elks attacked again through Ellis Hallam and Chris Tipton, Elks were penalised at the breakdown and Bedford cleared.

Another promising Elks attack was halted by strong defence and the ball stripped in contact, Bedford moved the ball swiftly to the right and found acres of space to score in the corner, extras missed. 0-12 after 28 mins.

The rest of the half followed a similar pattern as Elks had plenty of attacks but could make no clean line breaks, Bedford were clinical when turning ball over and ran in 2 further tries before half time making it 0-24 at the break. Elks made changes at half time bringing on Dan Bell, Joel Haigh & Sam Humphries.

Elks had an early attack but again were stripped in the contact area, Bedford chipped over the top and Elks failed to deal with the bouncing ball as Bedford were quickest to pounce and crash over to score, extras added making it 0-31 after 45 mins.

If it was hard at half time it was now a mountain facing the Elks but they did respond well and had their best period of the game, they attacked well down the left and a miss pass found Pottinger in space, he finished well to register the first points for the Elks on 49 mins, extras missed making it 5-31.

Elks were soon on the attack again from a line out, the ball was caught by Tipton and driven forward, Haigh broke off to the left and chipped ahead, he won the race for the ball and scored in the corner, extras missed from out wide making it 10-31 after 53 mins.

The kick off was well taken by Tipton and the move carried on by Humphries although the ball was knocked on soon after. The ensuing Bedford scrum was won against the head by the Elks pack and Lamb broke down field, he passed to Andor Benji who drew his man and fed back to Lamb for another score on 56 mins, extras added by Benji making it 17-31.

Elks crucially knocked on at the kick off as momentum had clearly began to swing to the Elks, a penalty for side entry was gratefully received by Bedford and they duly slotted the penalty to make it 17-34 after 61 mins.

Elks threw everything at Bedford as they went in search of at least one bonus point, credit to Bedford as they regrouped well and defended better than they had in the previous 15 mins.

Tipton was to the fore again as the Elks launched another attack, Elks were penalised and Bedford cleared, they won the line ot and attacked again, another penalty gave Bedford an attacking line out in the Elks 22, they took clean ball and drove forward although the drive was held up they broke of left and scored the final points of the game, extras missed making it 17-39 at the whistle.

Elks will rue individual errors and lost ball in contact but Bedford thoroughly deserved their victory, Elks had a great period in the second half but this needs to be maintained for longer if we are to challenge sides further up the league.

Some good display from the Elks but Man of the Match goes to the returning Chris Tipton whose aggression and strong running has been missed in recent weeks, he also took several catches at both kick off and line out as the forwards started to look much improved going forward.

Next week sees a difficult trip to Bugbrooke where recently it has not been a happy hunting ground for the Elks, let’s hope for a turnaround in fortunes.