MATCH REPORT

6 Mar 2010

Old Wimbledonians - H - Score 19-17

Scorers: Dan Brown, Tim Brittan and James Hammond a try each. Mat Norton 2 conversions.



Despite promises of a lovely summer day, we welcomed Old Wimbledonians to the Rec for the first time on a cloudy, dull and very cold afternoon. However, it was our first home match for a while and we were keen to try and improve on our run of three unbeaten games.



As soon as the game got underway it was clear that our forwards were going to dominate. We were rucking and mauling well and were even pushing their scrum back off the ball on occasions. With the benefit of good quality ball the backs were getting opportunities to show their skill and it was not long before we opened the scoring.



We were awarded a scrum on the visitors twenty two which allowed quick ball to Tom who flicked a pass to Mat on the blind side. Norts took the ball into contact and with a clever offload around the back of the defender gave the ever present Dan a chance to add to his try tally for the season. Norts then added the two extra to give us an early seven point lead.



A penalty infringement for going off our feet in the ruck gave OW the chance to close the gap by three points.



This reduced gap was short lived when, following a strong Bridge scrum, Tom released the backs who ran a loop manoeuvre to Dan who chipped through for James Hammond to score his first try for the senior side. The extras added and the lead was stretched to eleven points.



A first for Fordingbridge when following a collision of heads between Sean and Tom, we had two blood replacements on at the same time. Both players were OK and returned to the pitch no doubt spurned on after being assured by John Holden that women find scars sexy!



The final score of the half came about from a partially charged down Townsend box kick that fell straight into the arms of Tim Brittan who had a short dash to the corner. The half ended nineteen three to the home side. It is fair to say that everybody was looking forward to a scoring spree in the second half.



Unfortunately, for the home side at least, this was not to be the case as all of the points scored in the second period were by Old Wimbledonians.



They upped their game and we seemed to take our foot off the gas somewhat and allowed them to score two unanswered tries. And in what is now becoming a feature of Fordingbridge games, put the supporters through a torrid last ten minutes just holding on to the two point margin to take the victory.



A good team win despite the slightly nervous last quarter and enabling us to maintain our fifth place in the league.





Match Photos - Click here

Players :1. Nick Tyler, 2. Keith Walsh, 3. Chris Leaton, 4. Alex Tattersall, 5. Chris Spain, 6. Sean Gorman, 7. Ed Douglas, 8. Dean Lewis, 9. Tom Townsend, 10. Steve Brown, 11. Dan Brown, 12. Tim Brittan, 13. Mat Norton, 14. Tim Godden, 15. James Hammond, 16. Philip Collier, 17. Matt Vass, 18. Mike Grimes, 19. , 20. ,