South West One

Chard 30, Midsomer Norton 21

CHARD welcomed Midsomer Norton to Essex Close in a bottom-of-the-table clash that promised to be a hard-fought game.

Chard were out of the blocks quickly with Hartley going over the line and the conversion from Osman gave Chard a 7-0 lead.

Chard continued with their early dominance and were rewarded on 23 minutes with another try when captain Ryan Helliar went over in the corner for an unconverted score which put his team 12 points clear.

This was, perhaps, the wakeup call the visitors needed as they were straight back at Chard from the restart forcing the hosts into errors.

They were duly rewarded with a tremendous individual try under the posts which received deserved applause from both sets of fans and made the score 12-7.

Midsomer Norton were now looking like they wanted it more and continued to press the Chard defence into making more errors and soon took the lead with a second converted try with only minutes left of the first half remaining.

Not to be outdone, however, Chard had the final say of the half and, with superb encouragement from the crowd, Chard raised their game.

Somehow, Osman found space and crossed the line for a converted try to make it 17-14 at the break.

The second half started in the same frantic way as the first half had finished and Nanni Osman was on hand to score the bonus point try which he also converted to give Chard an advantage of ten points as they now led 24- 14.

The fightback from the visitors began again and they were camped on the Chard line for some time.

Chard’s defensive play was excellent and they seemed unbeatable for a long period but a mistake led to a penalty and, after opting for a scrum, the opposition forced Chard in to another error and the referee awarded the visitors a penalty try which they converted to take the score to 24-21.

At this point, the game really looked like it could go either way but Chard held their nerve.

Some disciplined play kept the visitors out and Osman kicked two penalties to give Chard a 30-21 victory.

Norton probably deserved a losing bonus point but they left with nothing for their efforts.

Coach Steve Broome said he was proud of the way his boys got stuck in against a physical side and they deserved to take all the points - it was a victory for the whole team with everyone playing their part.

On Saturday, Chard are at home to Weston, the unbeaten leaders. Kick-off is 2.30pm.