Bromsgrove 22, Whitchurch 24

BROMSGROVE finished their frustrating season by narrowly missing out on the North Midlands Plate after they were edged out at Dudley Kingswinford on Sunday.

Whitchurch had edged ahead with a penalty but the Boars edged ahead when Holt crashed over the line and Richard Mahoney added the conversion.

Whitchurch kicker Oliver Brown missed a chance to add to their total when Bromsgrove once again went offside.

But the Shropshire side took the lead again when Robert Leighton touched down for a converted try.

Both sides were attacking with purpose and after Craig Mortelmans made a good run, Phil Horton missed a good chance to score when he knocked on.

Bromsgrove fell 17-7 behind when Leighton set up a Whitchurch after a mazy 50-yard run.

The Finstall Park outfit continued to give away penalties and from one such offence Ben Meadows was yellow carded.

But they were punished for poor tackling when their rivals increased their lead to 24-7 when Robert Hockenhull touched down and Brown kicked the conversion.

Bromsgrove decided to take the game by the scruff of the neck and Whiteman in particular started to probe the Whitchurch defence.

They pulled back a try when Liam Marshall grabbed the ball and bowled his way over to make it 24-12.

Phil Norris, who was having an outstanding game, crashed over the line to move the score to 24 17. But Mahoney missed the conversions for both tries, which proved costly.

Bromsgrove’s forwards managed to keep them in the game when the returning Meadows scored after series of attacks.

Horton was sin-binned after making several comments to the referee.

Whitchurch were content to defend stoutly but the Boars continued to press forward.

They had a chance to win at the death when they won a penalty but Mahoney missed the target and Bromsgrove missed out on silverware.