Pre-season friendly

Weston 15 pts Dudley Kingswinford 14 pts

A LATE penalty by replacement fly-half James Reid gave Weston the narrowest of victories over Dudley Kingswinford in this opening friendly at the Recreation Ground.

Earlier, the hosts had taken the lead with Sean Bennett's try from player-coach Mark Armstrong's chip.

Armstrong converted, but the visitors' forwards used their strength when skipper Peter Knight was driven over from an attacking line-out.

Centre Eddie Smith converted to bring the scores level, but quick thinking by Michael Denbee from a tapped penalty produced a try for Matthew McQuaid.

The visitors looked to have secured the match with six minutes remaining when Smith converted their second close-range try, but Weston attacked vigorously from the restart and Reid stepped up to kick the winning penalty.

This was an encouraging performance by the Seasiders for whom George Sparks was outstanding at No 8 and whose new half-backs Armstrong and Roger Drabble had much to do with the success.