by Nick Pullen 

National League Division 2 North: Stourbridge 18, Harrogate 12

UNHAPPY Stourbridge Director of Rugby Neil Mitchell hit out at the match referee after his side held on for victory against bottom side Harrogate.

Well taken tries from wingers Ashley Elvers and Joe Bridger saved the day as Harrogate belied their lowly position having arrived at Stourton Park without a win to their name.

Harrogate completely bossed the opening 40 minutes as Stour struggled to get out of their own half.

Straight from the kick-off Harrogate pressed, capitalising after a Stour penalty clearence kick failed to find touch.

Play resulted with a series of scrummages close to Stour's line from which flanker Jonathan Coser picked up and forced his way over for full back Charlie Morgan to convert with just five minutes gone on the clock.

Boosted by this early score, Harrogate mounted further pressure and clearly had advantage in the scrums as they started shoving Stour backwards.

Another lengthy spell of scrummaging resulted with hooker Jack Lea being yellow carded on 15 minutes as the ref lost patience.

Luckily for Stour, Harrogate lacked any cutting edge and failed to convert possession into points.

The closest they came to increasing the lead was on the stroke of half time when Morgan missed a kickable penalty.

Turning around 7-0 adrift, Stour soon cut the deficit with a Luke White penalty on 44 minutes.

Then a compelling break by scrum half Chris Easton resulted with Ashley Elvers racing over on the right flank for a try to put Stour 8-7 in front after fly half White missed his touchline conversion attempt.

White soon made amends on 56 minutes when he thumped over a long range penalty from 44 metres out.

Stour then appeared to wrap up the win with a second try on 69 minutes, joe Bridger scampering over on the left flank for White to convert following some fine handling.

Harrogate refused to lie down and forced their way back upfield.

They won a series of tap penalties and finally flung the ball wide for left wing Ollie Rosillo to cross in the corner for an unconverted try with three minutes remaining.

At the same time, Stour had back row player Billy Harding yellow carded.

It led to an anxious finish as Harrogate went in search of the winning score but 14 man Stour managed to hold out.

After the game, Mitchell criticised the referee's performance and said: " I was dumbfounded by some of his decisions.

"I thought we played well but we were stifled. It seemed that everytime we got the ball, a decision would go against us.

"I will watch the DVD of the game and I will talk to the referee.

"There were two periods in the game when we were down to 14 players and I question the yellow cards, the second of which I find particularly perplexing."

Stour: Petty; Elvers, Heatley, Otutaha, Bridger; White, Easton; Harrison, Lea, Thorne (Thorp 32); Depper, Murphy; Mukarati (Harding 26), Munro (Carpenter 50), Nicholls (Harding 50). Replacements not used: Scott, Hurrell.