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The Redditch Arrows made the short trip to Oxford on Sunday to take on old rivals Oxford Saints, The Arrows who
had never beaten the Saints in their 6 previous encounters finally laid the hoodoo to rest in a closely fought 20-14 victory.
Both teams found the going tough in the first half with both sets of defenses getting the better of their
opponent's offenses. The Saints were unfortunate however not to take an early lead when a touchdown was called back for a clipping penalty. The Arrows responded late on in the half when
they drove 70 yards down the field to leave themselves inside the Saints 1 yard line with 35 seconds left in the half. This time they made no mistake and Anthony Perkins opened the scoring on
a 1 yard run. This coupled with a successful PAT kick from Jon Riddell gave the visiting Arrows a 7-0 half time lead.
The second half started in similar vein to the first with both teams struggling to move the ball. Oxford finally
put together a key drive and were rewarded when they went in from the 1 on a QB sneak to bring them to within one point at 7-6. A blocked PAT keeping the Arrows lead. On their next possession
the Saints again started to move the ball but missed the opportunity to take the lead when they missed a 37 yard Field goal early in the fourth quarter.
The Arrows made the home team pay for this miss when Perkins went in for his second score of the day on a
sensational 70 yard run to give the Arrows a 14-6 lead. Oxford immediately responded when they produced their own big play with a 58 yard TD reception to close the score to 14-12. With the
Saints needing to go for 2 points on the PAT , The Arrows defense did everything they could but the Oxford running back managed to just cross the line before fumbling the ball to tie the game
up at 14-14 with less than 3 minutes to go.
With time running out the Arrows took possession with one last ditch attempt to steal the match. On third and 12
Arrows QB Dave Stanton dropped back and came up with the play of the game in a 62 reception to wide receiver Dave Faulkner for the winning Touchdown. The Arrows defense then managed to hold
back Oxfords last series of plays to gain the hard earned but essential win.
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