Droitwich 2nd XV 22 - Pershore 2nd XV 22

Saturday 20th September 2008

Droitwich gave a much improved display from the previous week’s game away at Bromsgrove. Droitwich dominated the first 20 minutes but failed to turn pressure and possession in to points.

Pershore scored a breakaway try against the run of play and then stepped up a gear and proceeded to score a further two tries after bad tackling by the Droitwich defence to take a 15 nil lead.

With five minutes of the first half remaining good line out work by Droitwich’s Duncan Cooper lead to John Cowley breaking up the wing to find skipper Ben Thomas in support who broke several tackles to crash over in the corner.

Droitwich came out for the second half in the same fashion as they started the first. Ten minutes in after a good team move Radu Dumitrescu found Russ Brown who off-loaded in the tackle to find Ben Thomas who ran the ball in for his and Drotwich’s second of the game. Dean Evans added the simple conversion.

Droitwich were now a team on a mission and after concerted pressure on the Pershore defence Ben Skinner crashed over in the corner to give Droitwich a two point lead.

Pershore, however, were not yet defeated and with six minutes remaining they capitalised on a mistake by the Droitwich back line and scored a converted try which gave them a five point lead.

Droitwich heads did not drop and straight from the kick off Rob Poke broke up the blind side from the back of a ruck to give a well timed pass for Tom Chevens to squeeze in at the corner and tie the game.

The game was there to be won by both teams but it was Droitwich who took the game to Pershore and with the referee calling the last play of the game Ian Bartlett broke free of the visiting defence to be tackled just yards from the line. At the resulting ruck Craig Goode picked up and drove over the line only for a Pershore defender to make an excellent cover tackle and dislodge the ball from Goode’s grasp.

After the game skipper Ben Thomas said, “On the whole it was a good performance by a team containing a lot of young players. We all must concentrate on our decision making and keeping our cool when in try-scoring situations. The lads should be proud of the way we pulled our way back into the game after going 15 points down.”

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