Rifleman Disney was on a secret mission and no one knew where he was; Will Hunt continues to be kept in Saturday detention; and calls from the United for Matt Burns, Elliot Monelle and at late notice Neil Stamp left Athletic ranks depleted. Factor in staff shortages for the Crazy Hungarian and a complete absence of Frost – no explanation and no show(bad form Frosty, bad form)- meant the Athletes travelled with just 16 players.

Arriving in reasonable time was feasible but the angry baker and sidekick were lost in Bath and with 10 minutes to kick off we still only had 13 men. However everyone who should have been there arrived and old Cs sportingly allowed us 10 minutes of preparation time.

The forwards and backs combined well from the kick off and second phase possession saw the ball spun out left to find Dan Redman loitering in the backs and crashing over for the first try inside three minutes. Lomax narrowly missed the extras. The Athletic were playing up the slope in a howling gale and, from about the fifth minute, horizontal rain. The heavy Old Cs pack were dominant and they scored an unconverted try through their aptly named scrum half “Piggy”. In the 12th minute a sharp move on the blind side saw winger Troy Hannam deliver close enough to the posts for Lomax to convert. Blaine Bryant’s training field injury earlier in the week was aggravated and he limped off. A quick reshuffle saw Redman go to prop, the portly Richie move into the warmer realms of blindside and young George Chapman off the bench and into his favoured 10 spot. Old Cs struck back after a long period of pressure. The weight of Old Cs forwards looked ominous and they were shoving the Athletic pack about at will. The half time score was 14-12 to the hosts and a big second half effort would be needed for the Athletic to get a result.

The second half opened with a resurgence of Athletic performance in the set piece. Clearly the way to get Touhy fired up is to stamp on his ankle and then offer only limited sympathy and cold water by way of treatment. Future Athletic packs take note. Long searching kicks from Athletic’s Chappers put Old Cs on the back foot and after a great bit of forward play the hapless Old Cs tight-head flailed aimlessly at the ball as it squirted out of a ruck. It flew off his boot towards the Old Cs posts, hit the left hand upright and fell with a neat and fortunate bounce into the hands of James Trott for a score which Athletic deserved but which was delivered in the bizzarest of ways.

At this point Old Cs brought on their replacement, a hulk of a creature and the ref should have counted his chromosomes not his studs. After the game he decided that Cheds was his new best mate, shaking his hand warmly and frequently but with rather too much power, and the Athletic manager only just managed to escape this latter day Lenny by the skin of his teeth. This behemoth was responsible for a number rampages which resulted in a try for the hosts and the scores were levelled at 19 each.

The last quarter was all Weston with great defence (apart from the yellow card for Barry sparks!) and surging runs. After one particularly good passage of play with several phases, Chappers drew his man and slipped a well timed pass to Trott who sliced through under the posts for the best try of the day, gaining in the process another bonus point. Lomax got the extras and the Athletes continued to put pressure on the old Cs backs. A final attack saw Hannam put away neatly to round his man and score under the posts. Lomax’s conversion finished the game and the Athletes were worthy winners with five tries to three.

George Chapman continues to impress, Jim Richie deserves much praise for playing so well out of position and James Trott looked a class centre at this level but someone really needs to have a long chat with him about his under wear choices which are questionable to say the least. His two scores, one fortuitous the other beyond the reach of most defences in this league, moved the Athletic out of Old Cs reach. The understrength pack played with commitment and lots of energy and the all-round team spirit was first class.

Four winning games in a row see the Athletic move up to 7th in Somerset 2 North on 20 points, just one point behind Clevedon and Walcott, and 3 behind fourth placed Nailsea who were well beaten by the Athletic a week ago.

Oldfield OBs are the visitors to the rec next week and the Athletic will be keen to put out a good side and claim another win.