Shrewsbury 27 - Droitwich 29

Saturday 16th October 2004

Droitwich took a huge away following and a much changed side to Shrewsbury for a North Midlands cup match following the departure of coach Travis McIntyre and started their re-building with a morale boosting victory.

Droitwich gave debuts to promising youngsters James Shewell and Craig Goode and also drafted in veterans Ade Spencer and Ian Williams.

Spa, eager to halt their losing run, started brightly with youngster Steven Poke touching down in the corner after only ten minutes. Shrewsbury hit back though, and scored two tries in quick reply. But it was Droitwich who would go in at half time with a considerable lead after tries from Ben Cotteril and veteran prop Paul Bowditch. Skipper Matt Blackmore kicked the two conversions to give Droitwich a 19 points to 10 half time lead.

The second half began with a well-worked Shrewsbury try which was converted. But Droitwich hit back through the hard work of back row forward Ben Thomas who broke 3 tackles to power over from 15 yards.

Blackmore endured a woeful kicking display in the second half failing to convert Thomas’ try and Jamie Faulkener’s stunning solo effort, as well as missing numerous penalties.

Despite this, Droitwich were the team in control and held Shrewbury at bay until late into the second half when they scored a try under the posts which was duly converted. Shrewsbury then scored another try deep into injury time and had a chance to tie the game with the resulting penalty. But the pressure was too much for the kicker and Droitwich ran out victors 29-27.

  1. Greg Garfield
  2. Dean Goddard
  3. Radu Dimitrescu
  4. James Shewell
  5. Craig Goode
  6. Jon Andrews
  7. Phil Horton
  8. Gareth Knight
  9. Gareth Cogan
  10. Matt Blackmore (Captain)
  11. Leon Hopkins
  12. Sascha Hobbs
  13. Sean Walker
  14. Jamie Faulkner
  15. Steven Poke

Replacements: Puni, Ade Spencer, Paul Bowditch, Craig Burgess.

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