IN a bruising battle played in a strong wind, neither team could gain dominance with the scoreline remaining close.

Burnham took the lead in the tenth minute when the left- winger scorched around two would-be tacklers and dotted the ball down near the corner.

Petherton responded almost immediately through Stenson, who went over with Freeman converting.

Petherton pounded away at the Burnham line but sloppy handling let them down on numerous occasions. It was from one of these errors Burnham scored their second try as a fortunate hack through went straight into the arms of the right winger who ran 40 yards to cross the line.

Again, Pethy responded as Phil Hambly ripped through two defenders to score under the posts, which Freeman again converted.

All the play remained in the Burnham 22, and five minutes before half-time Sutherland- Earl made a break, offloaded to Kirk who found Jennings who scored right by the left corner flag. Kicking into the wind, Freeman drilled his kick straight through the middle of the posts. The half time score was 10-21.

Burnham used the wind in the second half to make ground and scored under the posts, which was converted, making the score 17-21.

The rest of the game remained scoreless as the Petherton boys defended heroically and robustly.

Somerset 2 S North Petherton 95, Martock 0 PETHERTON 2nds entertained a respected Martock side, writes Toby LeRone.

Petherton scored frequently but their general play was poor in the first half.

In the second half, Petherton started to play as a team and ran out easy winners. Tries were scored by debutant Jim Dudridge (4), Harly Brown, Mike Coles, Dan Winn, Oscar Tregenna, Dan Steward, Ben Williams (2) and Dan Pearce (2), with Pearce converting ten.

Respect must be given to Martock who never fail to turn up and play with pride.

North Petherton U14s 60, Weston 12 PETHERTON gave a very solid performance and all played a major role in this convincing victory. They attacked from all areas of the park trying to stretch and overrun their visitors.

Tries were scored at regular intervals through L. Reynolds, L. Gerralds, D. Frost, J.

Mannings, J. Bilton, J. Evans, L.

Nicholson (2), C. Doyle; five were converted by H. Skinner.