St Ives Roosters secured a home semi-final draw in the Eastern Division Play Off competition with a hard fought 42 - 27 win at regular season champions Bedford Tigers. The Tigers were unbeaten at home for two years before the game as the Roosters ripped up the form book to move ahead of Greenwich Admirals in the league table.
The game was very tense but a fired up St Ives side opened the scoring after 4 minutes with a James Shearman try. The Roosters had moved the ball down field which allowed Shearman to beat two defenders close to the line to score under the posts. Michael Sykes converted the try to give the Roosters a 6 - 0 lead. Defences were on top for the next ten minutes before Chris Potts opened the Tigers account with a drop goal.
The Roosters hit back straight away as they took advantage of bit of good fortune. John Paxton attempted a clearing kick in his own half but the ball was charged down by a Bedford player. He managed to recover the ball and after outpacing a couple of Bedford players off loaded the ball to his brother Charles. He in turn made a break and fed winger Tom Quegan who scored under the posts.
Things were looking good for the Roosters after a brilliant individual try from Paxton. He spotted a gap in the Bedford defence as he broke down the right hand side of the field, beat the fullback and scored under the posts. Sykes successfully converted to increase the lead to 18 - 1.
With ten minutes to go in the first half the Roosters lost concentration and allowed Bedford back into the game to score two converted tries to make the half time score 18 - 13.
The game was finely balanced and could have gone either way but the Roosters opened the scoring in the second half with a fine individual try by Ross Thompson. It certainly was spectacular but it was a vital score by the St Ives side. Thompson drove the ball in towards the Bedford line and looked to have been held up. Somehow he managed to keep moving with four Bedford players hanging off him to cross the line. Once again Sykes successfully converted to increase the lead to 24 - 13.
The lead was further increased when Jack Blackley made a break down the field and passed the ball Michael Drake who used his pace to make progress. The ball was moved to Sykes who fed Quegan who ran 40 yards to score under the posts.
Bedford hit back as Potts put through a delicate chip kick close to the line which the Roosters failed to deal with. This gave Jamie Stead an easy touch down but crucially the conversion was missed by Potts under the posts as the ball rebounded off the angle.
The Roosters looked like they had secured the win when veteran Andy Dean scored one of his trademark tries close the line. The converted try increased the lead to 36 - 17. He nearly added to his tally with a repeat effort but the referee deemed that he had used a Roosters player to shield his run.
With the Roosters looking to play down the clock they were once again punished by a Potts kick. The try was a repeat of the previous one as the Roosters full back failed to deal with the bobbling ball. The try was converted to bring the Tigers back into the game at 36 - 23.
Finally the Roosters killed the game off with the try of the game. A strong break by David Sykes led to four Roosters players off loading the ball before John Paxton scored his second try of the game under the posts. M Sykes converted.
There was still drama at the end as Bedford prop Stuart Riding managed to ground the ball after wriggling out of a tackle to make the final score 42 - 27.
Roosters now play Greenwich Admirals at St Ives RFC on Saturday 4th August in the Play Off Semi Final. The kick off will be 2.30pm. The winners of the game will be away to Bedford in the Grand Final.