Bedford Blues 12 London Scottish 29
London Scottish Director of Rugby Mike Friday praised his side’s character as a dominant first-half performance saw them secure their first away league win since November.
Scores from Miles Mantella, Matt Williams and two for Mark Bright were enough to seal the bonus-point victory.
Scottish remain in third place in the Greene King IPA Championship, six points clear of Nottingham in fourth.
“I’m absolutely thrilled with the character of the boys,” Friday told the club’s website.
“We had to dig deep. The players have come here after some travel woes and put in a performance showing the sort of grit, character and resilience that we want to see from them.
“It was important that the boys from the bench had a good impact at the vital time. They allowed
us to gain control in the second-half.”
Mantella opened the scoring in the third minute with his sixth try of the campaign before Peter
Lydon kicked a penalty to make it 8-0 inside ten minutes.
Bright – the league’s top scorer – then dotted down for the 15th time this year in the 17th minute, just his fourth try away from home. Lydon then added the extras to make it 15-0.
After sustained pressure in which the home side saw two players sent to the bin, another converted try from Bright made it 22-0 at the break.
Bedford replied with a penalty try early in the second-half before a Paul Tupai try reduced the deficit to ten just after the hour mark.
But Matt Williams secured the bonus point victory for Scottish with his seventh league try of the season inside the final five minutes of the game with Dan Newton converting.
Friday was not happy with the referee’s reluctance to punish the home side for committing fouls near their own try line.
“Being 22-0 at half-time was justice. How we didn’t get a couple of penalty tries and a few more Bedford boys in the bin I just don’t know – I’m at a loss.
“They come out in the second-half and the first penalty we concede in the red zone results in a yellow card and a penalty try against.
“Again it was ridiculous officiating and something I’m very disappointed out.”
Next up for Scottish is a home tie against top-of-the-table Bristol who have a 100% record so far this campaign.
