Aston Old Eds 18 Old Halesonians 13.

Old Halesonians 21-month unbeaten league run came to a crushing end at Perry Common on Saturday. The record 35-game streak ended with what was possibly Hales’ worst performance since February 2007, when the run began. Put under pressure from the kick off, Hales found themselves defending their own line for the first 10-minutes of the game. However, the tension was released in one swift counter blow. Pressing hard, the Hales blitz defence panicked the Aston backs into passing straight to winger Ben Lees, who sprinted the length of the pitch to score an unconverted try after the kick was missed by Seb Rose.

Hales lead was to be short-lived. Five-minutes later speedy Aston winger Rick Parnell finished from a move starting inside his own half. It wasn’t to be a day for kicking when fly-half Joe Besser missed the first of six place-kicks. Thankfully for the home side, former DK-scrum half Alan Mitchell was bossing his forwards well and managed to scramble over for a try following some powerful forward driving.

In light of the elements, and after a 32nd minute Rose penalty, Hales would have been satisfied with a two-point deficit at the break. However, it was not to be, and at the restart the visitors were penalised for playing the ball on the ground. Besser duly slotted his only kick of the match on the stroke of half-time. After the break, the elements were in Hales favour, and they altered their game-plan to utilise the wind and slope to gain territory. However, a catalogue of mistakes and uncharacteristically weak performance from their forwards were to lead to their demise.

In the 53rd minute, a missed tackle from the covering Hales back row gave Besser a half break and he finished well in the corner.

Last quarter saw Aston’s savvy forwards slow the game to a crawl and play at their tempo to grind out a victory. A spirited fight back from the Halesowen forwards saw them begin to play with their usual passion, although this was a mixture of frustration and desperation. Hales were thwarted from generating momentum at every opportunity by Aston, who conceded six consecutive penalties in their own 22-metre. Eventually Alan Hubbleday crashed over the line to score in the corner but it proved to be too little too late for Hales.