Bridgnorth 12 Old Hales 25.

OLD Halesonians recorded their most impressive comeback of the season in a tricky encounter away at Bridgnorth.

The first half belonged to the home side, who forced Hales into conceding a damaging nine first half penalties.

Bridgnorth raced to a 6-0 lead through two quick-fire Charlie Ralph penalties inside 10 minutes.

When Ralph added two more penalties in the 17th and 30th minutes, it looked as though Hales were slipping to only their third league loss in 18 months.

Sensing their season was on a knife-edge, stirring half-time speeches were delivered from head coach Gary Cox and captain Chris Wagstaff.

From the kick-off, the game appeared to have turned instantly with Bridgnorth fumbling the ball and conceding a penalty from the ensuing scrum.

Hales kicked to the corner and from the line-out they powered over for the first try of the match, which was converted by Mark Wakefield with only two second half minutes on the clock.

Just a minute after registering their first points, Hales reduced the deficit to three with a Wakefield penalty when the home side encroached offside in midfield.

The visitors now had their tails up and were hammering the opposition at set-pieces as well as in open play.

Conversely, the hosts were now suffering from their own disciplinary lapses, with flanker Daryl Jenks sin-binned for entering a ruck from the side.

With the tables turned, Hales were again clinical in capitalising upon their chances.

Kicking to the corner, this time Hales changed tactics from the line-out with a dynamic manoeuvre culminating in Alan Hubbleday powering over for a score. Wakefield missed the conversion meaning Hales held a narrow 15-12 lead going into the last quarter.

As Hales continued to go from strength to strength, the home side faltered and ran out of steam and it was no surprise when Hales drove over from a 5-metre scrum 15 minutes from time. Steve Gollings, who had moved to number 8 for the second half, grounded the ball and Wakefield converted.

An 85th minute Wakefield penalty sealed victory for the league leaders, who now sit four points clear at the top of Midlands Division Three.