Raiders cling on to beat Bury St Edmunds

Worthing Raiders battled past Bury St Edmunds this afternoon to record just a second National 2 South victory of 2018.
Kiba Richards scored a try in Raiders' win over Bury St Edmunds this afternoon. Picture by Stephen GoodgerKiba Richards scored a try in Raiders' win over Bury St Edmunds this afternoon. Picture by Stephen Goodger
Kiba Richards scored a try in Raiders' win over Bury St Edmunds this afternoon. Picture by Stephen Goodger

Tries from Will Grief, Kiba Richards and Jonathan Whittall were enough to take Raiders to a 24-18 victory in awful conditions at Roundstone Lane.

Bury, who trailed 21-18 going into the final ten minutes, had both Ross Taylor and Mark Kohler shown yellow cards and ended with 13 players.

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Raiders saw Matt Walsh thrown in the sin-bin following a clash with Taylor but the travelling side ended the stronger.

Despite a man advantage Worthing were clinging on in the closing stages, though, they held out to take victory.

Raiders made a disastrous start and found themselves ten points down inside the opening seven minutes.

Fraser Honey fired over a penalty on five minutes, before Bury's first try followed less than two minutes later.

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Matt McLean's pass was intercepted by Kohler, who ran half the pitch and went over.

After a shaky start Raiders regrouped, registering their first points courtesy of Grief's converted try 13 minutes later.

Slick work from a scrum saw Bury fire the ball wide to Guillame Duplenne and he went over on the half-hour to give his team a 15-7 lead.

Raiders were far from their best but some late pressure in the first half was rewarded as Richards found a way to go in 15-14 behind at the break.

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Worthing were quick out of the traps after the restart, taking the lead for the first time thanks to Whittall's 49th-minute try.

Persistent rain contiuned and another point was not scored until Honey's penalty 13 minutes from the end - making it 21-18.

An incident off-the-ball saw both Raiders' Walsh and Taylor shown yellow cards four minutes later.

Bury saw a second player thrown in the sin-bin in as many minutes with Kohler punished for numerous offside infringements.

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Full-back Matt McLean crashed over a penalty for Raiders five minutes from time to put his side on their way.

Bury continued to fight and had more possession in the final minutes but Worthing held on for victory.

RAIDERS: Head, Grief, Ajayi, Dingle, Lake, Price, Whittall, Perkins; Boyland, McLean, Sanderson, Coyle, Richards, Maslen, Leeming. Replacements: Luke, Gatford, Redmayne, Dawe, Walsh.

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