Bedford 22 Cross Keys 23

CROSS KEYS hero Leon Andrews has revealed how he lost a contact lens moments before seeing a gap in the Bedford backline to score a last-gasp try in their British & Irish Cup clash on Saturday.

Skipper Andrews pounced on a loose ball to go over in what was the last play of the match with Dorian Jones holding his nerve to convert with the last kick to snatch victory.

It was even more remarkable given the fact Keys found themselves 19-3 down after Bedford shot out of the blocks with three tries inside the first 16 minutes.

“I'd lost my contact lens a few minutes before the end so I couldn't really see what I was doing,” said Andrews.

“We had a good overlap and we just got the ball out and luckily I was there to take my chance.”

Jones kicked an early penalty for the visitors but Dean Adamson, James Pritchard and Nick Fenton-Wells scored to put Bedford firmly in control - two of which were converted by Pritchard.

But Keys roared back with two tries of their own – from Polu Uhi and Simon Williams – before the break to give themselves hope.

And, after Pritchard and Jones traded second half penalties to set up a grandstand finale, Andrews had the final say.

Andrews continued: “We felt dead and buried, to be honest.

“But we produced two minutes of non-stop play at the end and we showed our character then.

“When we kept the ball for long periods of time we seemed to do some a bit of damage but I'm just chuffed with the win and I think we deserved it in the end.

“It does take it out of you when you've had a four-hour journey on the coach and it took some time for us to run that out of our legs.

“We should have started better - it was individual errors - but we showed the character to come back.”

Having lost their opening Pool Four game at home to Doncaster, the win puts Cross Keys right back into contention ahead of this weekend’s trip to Cornish Pirates – who also lost at Doncaster at the weekend.

Bedford: Tries - D Adamson, J Pritchard, N Fenton-Wells; Cons - J Pritchard (2); Pen - J Pritchard.

Cross Keys: Tries - P Uhi, S Williams, L Andrews; Con - D Jones; Pens - D Jones (2)

Bedford: J Pritchard, D Dyer, M Le Bourgeois, V Hakalo (O Dodge 75), D Adamson, S Jones (J Sharp 73), P White (D Veenendaal 52), C Parilli-Ocampo (P Boulton 75), C Clare, J Currie, M Howard (H Wells 71), E Sheriff, P Tupai, J Vandermolen, N Fenton-Wells (J Buggea 71).

Cross Keys: J Tovey (J Cordy-Redden 68), A Hewitt, L Andrews, B Nightingale, P Uhi, D Jones, L Jones (J Leadbetter 64), P Price (L Garrett 54), R Buckley (D Hughes 80), D Young (A Jeffries 54), D Hodge, S Williams (S Andrews 70), J Skinner (S Matthews 46), O Griffiths, A Powell.

Star Man- Dan Hodge (Cross Keys)