DROITWICH earned two valuable Midlands Three West (South) points with a hard-fought 14-7 win against Old Coventrians at the Glyn Mitchell Memorial Ground.

Early pressure from the hosts was rewarded with a penalty in front of the posts, but the normally reliable Matt Blackmore pulled his effort wide.

Good work by veteran Nick Godfrey saw Matt Jupp make ground, before Blackmore put in a kick for Jack Clarke to score the first try. Blackmore added the conversion.

From the re-start, Droitwich made a mess of clearing their lines to give Old Covs an attacking line-out from which they squeezed over in the corner.

The excellent touchline conversion levelled the score.

Droitwich number eight Phil Horton made in-roads and was well supported by front-row forwards Dylan Jones and James Protherough.

Quick ball saw Steve Poke feed Blackmore, whose long pass found Jonny Critchlow. Godfrey, in support, took the ball to within 10 metres of the line before finding Simon Pearce, who raced over to restore Droitwich’s lead. Blackmore converted to end the half.

The second-half saw both sides try and increase the tempo and run the ball from deep, with Craig Mortlemans and Ian Bartlett particularly effective for the home side.

However, both teams looked short of confidence and errors were plentiful.

Good pressure from Droitwich saw Old Covs infringe and present Blackmore with two kickable penalties, but again he was off line.