Peterborough Lions claw their way to the cup final after a blistering start

The city side withstood a cracking fight-back by Bedford Athletic to win 29-26 at Bretton Park.

It now means Lions could end a traumatic campaign with some silverware. Lions, who face Amptill Jets in the final next month, have been relegated from the Midlands Premier Division after winning just one of their 20 league games so far.

The East Midlands Cup has been a source of joy though as they beat arch-rivals Peterborough RUFC narrowly in the quarter-finals.

The semi-final looked like being a much easier affair as Lions were 7-0 ahead after just two minutes thanks to a try in the corner from fly-half Will Moore who then landed an excellent conversion.

It soon became 19-0 after just 15 minutes as first Franco Perticaro touched down after a fine offload from Ben Peach and then Asher Veamatahau crossed following a strong break from Weir Filikitonga. Moore added one more conversion.

Bedford finally woke up and claimed two tries and a penalty to make it 19-13, but Veamatahu crossed again before the break with a Bedford penalty making it 24-16 at the break.

Bedford narrowed the gap to 24-19 with another penalty, but Moore promptly sent Filikitonga over for 29-19.

Bedford dominated the rest of the game and pulled to within one score with five minutes to go, but Lions held out in front of an excellent crowd.