DROITWICH turned in a much-improved display to claim two vital Midlands Three West (South) points with a 23-3 victory over Newbold at the Memorial Ground.

The opening exchanges were even with neither side really able to gain the upper hand, although Droitwich looked dangerous with the ball in hand.

Stand-off Matt Blackmore gave the home side the lead with a well-struck penalty from 40 metres out, before a good run by Steve Poke found the impressive Mark Strutt in support, but he was hauled down short of the line.

Fine work by veteran Nick Godfrey saw the ball passed out to Sean Walker to break up the middle.

He then linked with youngster Jack Pomroy, who raced home to score. Blackmore added the tricky conversion.

Droitwich attacked again through Walker, but were thwarted. Walker also picked up a leg injury and had to be replaced by coach Danny Protherough.

The second period started brightly for the Spa side with Craig Mortlemans making a good break to link with forwards James Shewell and Matt Jupp.

Godfrey then drove for the line to feed Poke, who was held up metres short. However, the ball was fed to Blackmore, whose long pass found Jonny Critchlow to throw a dummy and dive over the line to score a crucial try. Again Blackmore added the conversion.

Droitwich seemed to have the upper hand, but the game was often punctuated by indiscipline that saw a total of five players sent to the sin bin.

Good line-out work from Phil Horton saw James Protherough take the ball forward and link up with skipper Dean Goddard to make ground, only for Newbold to kill the ball, allowing Blackmore to further extend the lead.

The visitors hit back with a penalty of their own, before Blackmore slotted another effort to complete the scoring.

Overall, it was a much better Droitwich performance than recent outings, with the forwards fronting up well and providing a decent supply of ball, which enabled Poke and Blackmore to orchestrate proceedings.

Goddard added: “We were so much better then the last couple of weeks.

“Up front we really got stuck in and concentrated on doing the simple things well.”