WITNESSING an eclipse during Friday morning's twilight, come evening, in their yellow shirts, the Cornish Pirates looked to dazzle under floodlights at Bedford's suitably named Goldington Road ground.

Did they dazzle? Yes, for much of the first half and then at the end, and generally playing with full commitment throughout this victory provided immense satisfaction.

Early scrummage dominance led to a maul and then a try scored by scrum-half Tom Kessell, which was his 7th in this season's Greene King IPA Championship with fly-half Laurence May adding the conversion.

Within a minute of the restart good play from centre Rheon James saw the ball moved to May and then supporting wing Matt Evans, who sped in at the corner.

The conversion from wide on the left was anything but a formality, however May nailed it to extend the Pirates lead.

The Pirates may have lost to the Blues in two Cup encounters this season but it will have been remembered that they won convincingly at home in the league, 65-14, last November and playing once again with a mix of both skill and gusto hopes were already high that they could record another excellent victory.

They did have the perceived advantage of playing with the home team's notorious slope in this first period, but following a penalty miss by May it was not long before Bedford took play to the other end of the field from where a well-structured maul ended with a penalty try.

A second penalty attempt by May on 19 minutes, this time successful, reopened up a ten points lead for the Pirates, for play to then be evenly contested for a lengthy spell.

Plaudits were commendably due the Pirates for their all-round display including, importantly, their defensive efforts, and it seemed likely that there would be no change to the 7-17 scoreline before the break.

Then, however, in the last few seconds of an entertaining half, a sudden intercept by wing Craig Holland saw him run all of 70m for a try, suitably scored in what was his 50th appearance for the Pirates.

May was also on target with the conversion to give the Cornish side a healthy looking 24-7 points lead.

This was an important contest between the ninth and seventh-placed teams and if the Pirates could hold on for victory then it would not only ease worries of relegation, but would also still give them an outside chance of making the top four.

A try from Tongan international centre Viliami Hakalo provided hope to the hosts as they opened the scoring in the second half and with Baden Kerr adding a fine conversion the final 30 minutes of the match demanded full attention.

May missed with another penalty shot at goal, leaving ten points still separating the sides, and having introduced a flurry of replacements the Blues became invigorated.

Indeed, in the 69th minute some excellent running from full-back Steffan Jones created a chance for Pat Tapley to score as the speedy winger took a line to the posts, for a try this time converted by replacement fly-half Jake Sharp.

Tension levels were now well and truly upped and especially so for the visitors and their supporters, noting to the side had not troubled the scoreboard operator during this second half.

With just a couple of minutes left, the choice from a penalty awarded the Pirates was to go for a catch and drive, which led to hooker Rob Elloway, who had returned from his loan spell at London Welsh, finding his jumper in the line-out.

Kessell, as at the start of the match, was again alert, but taking possession he this time fed the ball to Holland who breezed over for his second celebratory try of the night.

It was also, of course, a bonus point providing fourth such score, with the conversion from replacement fly-half Kieran Hallett duly sealing matters.

Such a result provided immense satisfaction for the travelling Pirates.

After the game player/coach Alan Paver said: “We came here determined to show belief in ourselves, so to set off on the long coach journey home with five points in the bag provides immense satisfaction, besides also renewing our confidence in being able to beat anyone."

BEDFORD: 15 Jones, 14 Tapley, 13 Le Bourgeois, 12 Hakalo, 11 Staff, 10 Kerr (Sharp 49), 9 Veenendaal (Baldwin 49); 1 Moss (Williams 49), 2 Harris (Clare 61), 3 Boulton (Currie 49), 4 Howard (Wells 43), 5 Gulliver, 6 Tupai, 7 Buggea (Vandermolen 64), 8 Fenton-Wells (c).

TRIES: Penalty, Hakalo, Tapley.

CONS: Kerr 2/2, Sharp.

PIRATES: 15 Evans, 14 Pope, 13 Dancer, 12 James, 11 Holland, 10 May (Hallett 70), 9 Kessell; 1 P Andrew, 2 Elloway, 3 Paver (Ford-Robinson 52), 4 McGlone, 5 Barry (Graulich 65), 6 Morgan, 7 Atkinson, 8 Bolwell (Parker 68).

UNUSED REPS: Brooker, Walker, Hopkin.

TRIES: Kessell, Evans, Holland (2).

CONS: May 3/3, Hallett.

PEN: May.