WHOEVER thinks that end of season games mean little really should have been at Goldington Road yesterday afternoon.

Mike Rayer’s men may have already been safely through into the promotion play-offs but they still threw their bodies on the line in a cracking encounter against a Rotherham side who needed a bonus point win to have any chance of avoiding the relegation competition.

Seven tries were scored in all with the first coming in the opening minute but Bedford dug in deep to pick up the win and maintain their current run of form.

“I think we actually had the worse possible start with that quick try,” said Blues full back James Pritchard after the game.

“I think people got it in their heads that it’d be an easy day out for us but it certainly wasn’t. We made a lot of schoolboy errors that professional and semi-professional players shouldn’t be making.

“Again, we started the second half well but then the foot came off the gas and Rotherham made us work hard for the win

“There’s no way in the world that Rotherham will go down.”

It took just 27 seconds for Bedford to open the scoring. The Titans had kicked off straight into the arms of Ben Lewitt who clattered straight into the advancing defence to set up a ruck. Will Chudley, Myles Dorrian and Ian Vass linked up before Pritchard made a superb break from Bedford’s 22 and as galloped well into Rotherham’s half he offloaded to Luke Fielden and he had a clear run to the line with Pritchard adding the extras.

The reply came quickly though and it was no real surprise that it was the Titans pack who created it. A lineout was taken in by Tom Denton just inside Bedford’s 22 and the forwards swarmed around him to drive forward and as the line came into view Adam Kleeburger broke away and scored but Mike Whitehead’s conversion went wide.

Bedford’s game plan took a bit of a blow when Ollie Dodge came off injured in the tenth minute and then Pritchard missed a penalty from the right hand side.

Rotherham were certainly in a determined mood and they were taking full advantage of the Goldington Road slope. The Titans pack were dominating a scrum and in the 18th minute and following three pick-and-go rucks, Matt Challinor dived over the line to score with Whitehead converting.

That try appeared to shake the Blues a little and just three minutes later Rotherham caught them off-guard once again. A wonky lineout through gave the Titans a scrum after securing the ball the backs had their chance to have a run forward. Bedford held firm for a while, but with men over the ball came to number 8 Ryan Burrows and he shook off a tackle to score under the posts giving Whitehead an easy conversion.

Roth were on a mission to secure a bonus point and had it not been for some fine tackling from Pritchard, Sacha Harding and Ian Vass, then they could have got their sooner. That said the Blues started to string some passes together and had it not been for some poor handling and a couple of knock-ons then they could have been closer as the half drew to a close.

Rotherham captain Steve Swindall was sin-binned deep in stoppage for an infringement at the ruck and Pritchard slotted home the resulting penalty to keep the Blues within touching distance as the half ended 10-19.

Swindall’s absence from the field proved to be critical to the result as Bedford put up 20 points while he was missing. Prithard slotted another penalty three minutes into the half and almost immediately the Blues scored a second try.

The Titans had taken in the restart but pressure at the ruck created a turnover and Bedford went on the attack with Myles Dorrian and John Harlock finding ground before Alex Rae sprinted ahead. As the cover tackle was made though, Rae played a superb ball to the onrushing Liam Roberts who went over with Pritchard converted.

Two minute later and it was 27-19. Rotherham had kicked ahead following a knock-on but Vass went straight on the attack playing Pritchard into space before Roberts and Harding linked to send Ben Lewitt through the last defender and the number 8 made no mistake with the finish and neither did Pritchard with the conversion.

The game wasn’t over though and when Rotherham were back to full strength they took the game straight back to the Blues. As the Titans made their way up the field, replacement Mike Howard was caught offside and the ref sent him to the bin for ten minutes.

Rotherham opted for a scrum and although their pack was tiring from the opening onslaught they applied plenty of pressure and after five reset the ref ran under the posts and awarded the penalty try which secure the bonus point. Whitehead converted with ease to make it 27-26.

Rotherham still needed to win the game though and Bedford weren’t in the mood to let that happen. The Blues picked up penalty after a Titan held onto the ball too long and Pritchard dispatched it before adding another in the 73rd minute when Burrows was sin-binned for persistent fouls.

Roth still had the chance to level the score in stoppage time, but an immense Bedford effort in defence along with a sublime Nick Walshe tackle prevented the line being breached and the Blues wrapped up a good win against a tough opposition.