BEDFORD 5 BRISTOL 6: Bristol maintained their 100 per cent record in The Championship with a tense victory at Goldington Road.

James Pritchard was the villain of the piece for the hosts, the full-back missing two very-kickable penalties in the final few minutes to let Bristol Rugby off the hook in an encounter that was dominated by the respective defences.

In fact, victory would have been no more than the home side deserved after they gave as good as they got against the divisional favourites and scored the game's only try a couple of minutes after the break.

As far as try-scoring opportunities went, the 80 minutes offered little and the difference between the teams proved to be the goal-kicking.

Pritchard missing all four of his attempts and Adrian Jarvis – a shocking miss in the second half aside – converting two of his.

But, while the performance was far from perfect, head coach Paul Hull was understandably happy with the outcome, saying: "To win away from home you're going to be pleased with that, but I think we used up all our luck.

"Bedford played really well in the second half. We probably dominated possession in the first half and they dominated possession in the second which is unusual because we were both going up the hill."

"But we just couldn't keep hold of the ball in the second half, we couldn't get field position, a bit similar to last week, but we'll learn our lesson.

"If I was the Bedford coach I'd be bitterly disappointed, but that's sport and we've got to take the plusses from that because it is a win and we've got to make sure that we don't get ourselves in that position too many times this season.

"Winning rugby's what it's all about. That was a tight one, we had a forward pass that was a tight call which could've sealed the game and we've just got to look after the ball in certain areas of the pitch which we didn't do in the second half."

In front of an excellent 4,067-strong crowd, the hosts had the better of the opening stages, but missed the chance to take an early lead when Pritchard pushed a fifth-minute penalty attempt wide. Bedford were looking sharp behind the scrum and it wasn't until the 17th minute that Bristol managed to reach the home 22 with their first decent foray forward.

A minute later, Jarvis opened the scoring with a simple penalty as Bristol began to find their feet.

The play, which wasn't helped by the whistle-happy referee Greg Garner who stopped proceedings at every available opportunity, was very stop-start with fluency hard to come by.

After a Jarvis break came to nothing, Bedford threatened courtesy of Ollie Dodge, who made inroads down the left, but as the ball was worked to the right side, a turnover relieved the pressure.

Jack Adams then knocked-on with a promising overlap beckoning, a mistake emulated by his midfield partner Luke Eves, who dropped the ball in a central position 25 yards out.

Miles Dorrian then copied Eves' example by spilling a Luke Fielden pass with acres of space in front of him.

The home defence, who are yet to concede a try this season, were again in superb form, but they went further behind three minutes into first half added time when Jarvis notched his second penalty after the scrum had been dragged down.

Needing a quick score after the interval, Bedford obliged with an excellent effort. Dorrian made a clean break and fed Pritchard who in turn passed to the supporting Fielden, who crossed wide on the right.

Pritchard's conversion attempt was wide and a minute later Jarvis somehow contrived to squander a penalty attempt from right in front of the posts and just 20 yards out.

Paul Tupai then knocked on with the line at his mercy and at the other end, Lee Robinson was denied a try when a forward pass was called.

The game was following a similar pattern to the first half with Bedford having the better of the early minutes and the visitors responding.

It was still nip and tuck as the final 10 minutes arrived with neither side able to take the initiative.

Dan Norton was stopped in his tracks by a good Ollie Dodge tackle on the left, while Bedford continued to let themselves down with poor handling.

Despite that, the home side were in the ascendancy and their chance to go in front came in the 75th minute.

A pulled down scrum gave Pritchard a penalty chance which was pulled wide and after they regained possession, Dorrian set himself well for a drop-goal, but his effort sailed narrowly wide.

Bristol  Rugby did their best to shoot themselves in the foot in added time when, rather then kick for territory, they strayed offside 38 metres from the posts in the centre of the field.

The stage was set for Pritchard to be the match-winner, but his accuracy let him down again and his kick drifted off target, with it went the chance of a snatched victory.