ED GOUGH’S late penalty earned Alcester RFC a 26-26 draw against local rivals Bromsgrove II.
Gough kicked 11 points from the kicking tee supported by tries from Christian Rushton, Robbie Parker and Tom Burgess at Kings Coughton.
The result means Alcester sit seventh in the Counties 1 Midlands West (South) table.
Bromsgrove scored the game’s first try inside the first five minutes after being held up over the line moments earlier.
Alcester responded when Rushton broke through to dot down, following a superb 50:22 from Mark Burrell, only for the conversion to hit the crossbar.
The visitors barged their way over the line to score their second try as Alcester struggled to deal with Bromsgrove’s bigger pack.
Gough then kicked a penalty from in front of the posts before the Boars crossed for their third try just two minutes after their last score.
Bromsgrove then lost a player to the sin bin for a high tackle on Alcester’s Jake Stephens-Smith who went off for a head injury assessment.
Another Gough penalty reduced the deficit before Alcester lost Nigel Burrows to the sin bin for dissent only for Parker to touch down on the stroke of half time to cut the gap to a single point at the break.
Bromsgrove scored their bonus point try early in the second half before Burgess hit back for Alcester on his first appearance of the season after recovering from secondary concussion.
The home side missed two penalties before Gough successfully kicked the ball between the posts to earn the Kings Coughton club their first draw of the season.
Alcester are next in action away at Broadstreet II on Saturday, March 23 with kick-off at 3pm at the Ivor Preece Field.
