Upton opened 2008 with a league match and a visit to their closest opponents, geographically that is, Alcester in Upton's nemesis area of Warwickshire! Without a game for three weeks over the festive period it was always going to take time for both teams to get back into rhythm. It was Upton who found their feet first and playing downhill they had Alcester on the back foot and after 14mins Alcester could legally hold out no longer and No 10 Mike Dodge converted a penalty from 30 metres to give Upton the lead

Upton kept up the pressure on Alcester who hardly ventured into Upton's territory and they also had the misfortune to lose their scrum half and a prop through injury within the first 30mins. Upton were quick up in the tackle, rucked well and then spun the ball out. Upton were in the ascendancy and increased their lead when the ball was passed out to Alex Pimlow on the half way. He went on a power drive around the covering defenders but as he neared the try line he was squeezed towards touch. Rather than let the play die he had the presence of mind to cross kick inside towards the posts where Chris O'Neil was in position to collect the ball and score under the posts and Dodge added the extra points

Upton's attacking game continued until half time but were unable to add to their score and put the game beyond Alcester's reach but they also had to replace a prop and a centre.

The Alcester supporters apparently know that unless the opposition have scored more than 12 points in the first half down the slope then there's every good reason to find that with local knowledge of the pitch there will be a home win at the final whistle. Alcester came out of their blocks right from the restart and within a minute they had scored from a penalty

It was Upton's turn to soak up the pressure now and defend and certainly local knowledge came into play as Alcester frequently made ground with long diagonal kicks downfield with the wind. Alcester had a try over ruled by the official but by the sixtieth minute they had converted two more penalties

For the last 20minutes it was a case of 'true grit' for Upton as they repelled all threats to their line. So Upton consolidated their second place in the league as they prepare for some key league games over the next few weeks but it's due to be a friendly away to Bromyard next week.

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