Derby 9 Bromsgrove 10

BEING a supporter of Bromsgrove RFC First XV is a nerve-shredding existence.

It would appear the team don't believe in doing things the easy way and never know when they're beaten.

For the third season running the players have put the fans through the mill in a nail-biting last day thriller.

In 2002 they won Midlands Two (West) with a final day 23-15 win at Old Laurentians. Last season Matt Birch kicked a last second penalty to hand them a 25-24 victory against Malvern.

And last Saturday Birch did it again, this time converting Danny Malin's injury time try, to give Dean Ball's side the Midlands Two (West) title for the second time in three seasons.

For 80 minutes a near-1,000 crowd had joined together to sing, dance and bang drums through a gruelling spectacle.

And as injury time ticked away the vociferous home fans celebrated victory.

Yet they had reckoned not with one last Bromsgrove throw of the dice. Pinned deep in their own half Birch launched an enormous kick down field that fell within yards of the Derby line. Tom Churchill gathered the ensuing lineout and the visitors piled forward, being stopped several times at the line before Nick Copson fed Birch who broke to eventually supply Malin to take the ball under the posts.

Up stepped Birch and, like so many times before, coolly placed the central conversion over from 10 yards.

It was hard on Derby, they had looked for all the world winners 30 seconds before, but Bromsgrove, who won the reverse fixture 22-21 in the final seconds in November, were ecstatic.

A one-minute silence preceeded the game in memory of Bromsgrove assistant coach Dave Wilkinson's brother Anthony, tragically killed in a hit and run in Hull two weeks ago.

Dave, who led the team out, was adamant he would play and his sheer determination to succeed was charateristic of his side's effort.

Bromsgrove pierced the Derby midfield early on and Tom Churchill dominated the lineout although there was little to separate the sides.

G Cornelius missed a difficult penalty eight minutes in and dropped another short of the posts 20 minutes later.

Bromsgrove defended aggressively but Derby led from a penalty on 35 minutes. Cornelius doubled the lead on half time after his penalty struck both posts before going over.

With a second half wind advantage, Birch kicked a penalty on 49 minutes to cut the lead to three points.

Bromsgrove were then reduced to 13 men inside three minutes, both Copson and Jon Taylor shown yellow cards for offences in the middle of the park. In between dismissals a Cornelius penalty gave Derby a 9-3 cushion.

By the time Bromsgrove were back to full strength the game was in its final quarter.

With time virtually out, Birch's long kick forward set Bromsgrove up for a memorable triumph.