Abercynon 35 Barry 13

BARRY failed to make ground on fellow promotion hopefuls after going down 35-13 to Abercynon last Saturday.

Although the scoreline doesn't reflect it, the result was in doubt until the final quarter when the home side ran in three tries.

Barry will rue the missed opportunities they created as their normally solid ball handling skills sadly let them down on this occasion

The scrum was also under pressure early on as they conceded two penalties, the second of which gave Abercynon the lead.

Barry bounced straight back from the restart where a penalty took the deep into the 22.

Winning and driving the lineout Barry controlled the ball well allowing Alyn Evans to cross for the try which although unconverted gave them the lead.

The score began a period where Barry played some good attacking rugby and had it not been for handling errors would have gone further ahead.

Abercynon weathered the storm and their open style of attacking rugby continually threatened the Barry defence.

One such attack took play into the Barry 22 metres from the line.From a scrum the homeside were able to beat the Barry defence to cross for a try and conversion taking the score to 10 - 5.

Again Barry attacked as the game restarted and two solid scrums forced a penalty which Dylan Robertson converted and only two points separated the sides

The game swung to and fro as Barry failed to control the kick off and gave a penalty at the scrum which was converted for a 13 - 8 lead.

Barry were put back some 70m as Abercynon launched their speedy backs into attack but they survived only to conceded a penalty seconds later stretching the home side’s lead.

They could have gone further behind just before half time but Abercynon wasted a certain try, leaving the score as the whistle went at 16 - 8.

The second half began brightly for Barry, but promising moves were spoilt with poor ball retention.

They were to pay the price when a series of penalties awarded against them ended with the referee awarding a penalty try.

This set back seemed to spur Barry on and they enjoyed a period of dominance and a series of attacks saw Rhys O'Sullivan cross for the try which again went unconverted.

Barry were paying heavily for their unforced errors and a loose ball was to take play metres from their line, where they were penalised yet again.

Abercynon drove the resulting lineout to cross for an unconverted try but a lead by 28 - 13.

Again Barry were penalised at the restart and a quick penalty saw Abercynon move the ball at pace to outstrip the defence to score a converted try.

Barry continued to try in the final minutes but despite their efforts they failed to add to their score as the final whistle blew.

A disappointing day for Barry but their is still all to play for in the promotion race and it is hoped the boys will bounce back from this setback.

They can do this when they entertain Llanharan next Saturday in their final home game of the season kick off 2.30pm

The Lottery rolls over to £4000 this week after last weeks numbers of 04 - 05 - 10 and 21 failed to find a winner ,no tickets matched three numbers.