BECKENHAM hosted their first ever fixture against Welwyn in the first round of the EDF Energy Intermediate Cup and emerged as 36-10 winners.

With both teams struggling in their respective leagues, this was expected to be a close game and so it proved to be in the opening exchanges.

The home side, playing up the slope and against the breeze in the first half, took the game to their opponents, but could not find a way through their experienced and well-organised forwards.

Beckenham started to move the ball wide and with Airey, Goosens and Pinn dominant at the breakdown, new scrum half Hill was able to provide a decent platform for Thomson to get his backs moving.

After several quick phases, Pete Thorne broke for the line and was able to present the ball for the supporting Farmiloe to crash over from close range.

Now leading 10-0 after a Thomson penalty, Beckenham fell into the comfort zone and failed to secure possession.

The visitors’ forwards and backs combined well and scored a well-worked try, which was converted to leave the score 10-7.

Beckenham now started to dominate, but a series of poor decisions and some dreadful handling errors meant there were no further scores in the first half.

The hosts came out stronger in the second half and Thorne capped off a fine display when he broke through again after a good forwards drive to score.

This was the signal for a period of Beckenham dominance, but it did not yield the scores it deserved as the visitors’ strong defence and some sloppy handling resulted in the chances being wasted.

With the Beckenham front row dominating and Rose sweeping the lineout, Beckenham stated to provide good possession and clever play by the versatile Hewett released Blake to feed Reggie who raced through the cover to score.

Soon after the restart, Beckenham worked their way back into the opponents’ 22 and a clever break up the blindside by Hill paved the way for a fine try by crowd favourite Reggie.

With both sides down to 14 men after separate yellow cards, Beckenham dominated the remaining passages of play and with quick ball off the lineout, Thomson fed it back inside to the rampaging Clev.

He burst his way through a flurry of tackles to score near the posts and send the home crowd to the bar happy with the final score at 36–10.