Stafford 39 – 31 Belper

In their first outing of the season the Vets welcomed Belper Vets to Coopers Park for a Friday night fixture. The Stafford squad had a healthy mixture of seasoned County Town players looking for a run out under the floodlights.

The game started brightly for the hosts and early hard work was rewarded through a try from Rich Walklate. With the teams looking to run the ball as much as possible both sets of vets put on an entertaining match to welcome in the weekend for the crowd. Experienced hands created opportunities all over the pitch but it was a composed Stafford who had the better of the play throughout the half. Tries from Steve Rowland, Mark Broomhall and Oli Greatholder built up a comfortable lead as the points kept the board ticking over. The visitors fought back hard and Belper grabbed a try of their own just before half time.

The second half followed a similar pattern as Stafford continued to quietly dominate. A special piece of play saw Darren Mottershead delaying the pass to perfection and then finding a charging Oli Greatholder who had run a great line to split the defence for his second try of the evening. A subsequent Belper attack threatened the Stafford line before Mark Broomhall ripped the ball from the opposition on the 5m line to launch a counter attack which released the prowling Coopers Park backs. The ball found its way to Steve Rowland who put on the after-burners gliding down the wing. Darren Mottershead was the next recipient, fixing the last defender and firing the ball off to Maciej Drywa who finished a length-of-the-field try. Belper took their second try before some tenacious work ended with Rab Cooper adding the last home side try of the evening. Heading into the final 10 minutes the game looked over and both sides started to rest some weary legs. However, a late flurry saw the visitors scoring three tries to make it a nervier end to the game than it should have been.