McAlister sends Sharks top
Sale kicked their way to the top of the Guinness Premiership table with a tense 9-6 victory over struggling Bristol at the Memorial Stadium.
Last Updated: 20/09/08 6:08pm
Sale kicked their way to the top of the Guinness Premiership table with a tense 9-6 victory over struggling Bristol at the Memorial Stadium.
The Sharks have been ferocious in their defence of late and Friday night's efforts made it three Premiership games on the bounce without conceding a try.
On the other side the defeat continued Bristol's miserable run of form that has seen them lose the last nine league games on the spin - a torrid run stretching back six months and they look destined for a relegation fight as they remain bottom.
New Zealand centre Luke McAlister proved to be Sale's hero with a hat-trick of successful penalties, with Adrian Jarvis and Ed Barnes keeping Bristol in contention throughout.
In a fiercely-competitive encounter, Jarvis drifted an opening penalty chance narrowly wide as Bristol had the first sighter at goal.
Sale went ahead though thanks to a long-range McAlister penalty after Barnes was sin-binned after 17 minutes.
As Barnes was off for ten minutes for his show of dissent, Jarvis slotted an equalising penalty that Bristol's solid start had deserved.
Sale missed the chance of a try when lock Chris Jones knocked on with the line beckoning, and the half ended at 3-3.
A 47th-minute penalty from McAlister edged Sale ahead as a dour second half began, and he repeated the dose to gain a six-point advantage after 55 minutes.
Barnes replied to ensure a nervy ending to the match but Sale hung on without too many scares to move to the top of the tree.
