A FINE try by teenage speedster Jack Pomroy was enough to give Droitwich a 16-8 Midlands Three West (South) victory over Barkers Butts in Coventry.

The result was just reward for the visitors, who turned in their best display of the campaign so far.

The early exchanges were dominated by the home side, who used their physicality to punch holes in the Droitwich defence. This led to an infringement, allowing Barkers to slot a penalty and take the lead.

Droitwich came back well, though, with Matt Jupp making some strong runs, before a break by Jonny Critchlow saw the home side penalised. Matt Blackmore levelled the score with a well-struck penalty.

Barkers raised their game and made in-roads into the Droitwich half, but excellent defence kept them at bay, before Nick Godfrey was sent to the sin-bin for killing the ball.

The home side spurned the chance to kick the straight forward penalty and decided to go for the try, but strong tackling by the Droitwich forwards, with Nick Lebotschy and Dylan Jones being especially effective, kept the line intact.

A clever kick by Sean Walker saw Droitwich gain ground, allowing Steve Poke and Phil Horton to combine cleverly. Barkers, again, killed the ball and Blackmore gave Droitwich the lead.

Good approach work by Duncan Kelly and Jack Clarke then gave Blackmore the opportunity to extend the visitors lead which he gratefully accepted.

Droitwich were glad to take a lead into half-time having spent much of the opening period defending.

The second-half started brightly for the Spa side, with Ross Coombes making a darting run down the blind side from his own teritory.

He found the electric Pomroy on his shoulder to take the pass and there was no way of stopping the teenager, who raced home to score what turned out to be the decisive try. Blackmore added the simple conversion.

The home side came back strongly, but seemed to panic into playing the game at a tempo that did not suit them. Time and again they pounded the Droitwich defence, but the visitors’ tackling was first class, with veteran Godfrey nothing short of superb, as were midfield players Blackmore and Critchlow.

On the few occasions Barkers did threaten to score, the big-tackling Spa forwards kept them at bay, with Poke clearing up any loose ball and kicking to touch.

With the clock running down, Barkers became more and more frantic but, despite their best efforts, there was no way through the water-tight Droitwich defence. In the dying seconds, a rare missed tackle allowed the home side to sneak over in the corner, but it was too late to affect the result.

This was a fine win for the young Droitwich side, one which could kick-start their season and be the foundation of another good league campaign.

Skipper Dean Goddard said: “We knew all the hard work we have put in would pay off, and we produced an excellent display.

“The teamwork was simply first class.”