THIRD in the table Bridgwater travelled to second- placed Wiveliscombe on a blustery afternoon which made play difficult for both teams.

Bridgwater had suffered disruption to their original team selection when the first team took Matt Northey and Damian Griffin, and flanker Haydn Johnson covered for the injured Steve Hunt.

After a hasty reshuffle, Bridgwater opened brightly, despite playing into the wind and up the slope. But the game took a nosedive ten minutes in when influential fly half Nick Bradley had to leave the field with a broken finger.

Dan Gooding was pulled from the flank to play in the backs and the last replacement. Albion battled away for the next 30 minutes to keep the home side at bay.

With the Bridgwater scrummage dominant and the defence holding firm it was 30 minutes into the game before Wivey got their noses in front and, despite adding another try just before half-time, the visitors were well pleased with their first-half efforts.

In the second half, the Albion backs worked an opening for Gooding to score in the corner. But Wivey rarely allowed Bridgwater to get into position to exert pressure in the vital period after half-time.

Line-outs became a lottery due to the strong winds and hooker Dave Norman suffered a shoulder injury, affecting his throwing-in which left Albion struggling to pin Wivey back in their own 22.

Bridgwater narrowed the gap with 10 minutes to play when a hopeful kick downfield was not gathered cleanly by the Wivey full-back. The onrushing Rich Willis was first of the chasers to seize on the error and he hacked the ball towards the line and just won the race for the touchdown.

The conversion was missed and Wivey held on to a deserved victory.