Cleethorpes RUFC 26 Belper RUFC 22

Belper started brightly and scored with an opportunist try from Scott. He picked up the loose ball and galloped in for the first points. Cleethorpes then struck back 10 minutes later with a try of their own but also failed to convert the try. Belper then enjoyed a good period of play where they took phase after phase to Cleethorpes. Strong runs from Innocent, Holmes, Woodward and Kmieciak were knocking the home team backward and left Tony England with a simple pick and go to help Belper take the lead under the posts. Stones added the extras and again converted a penalty shortly after to extend the gap to 10 points. Belper were soon camped in the opposition half again and Haines was unlucky not to score after being held up over the line. This did lead to a scrum for which Belper pushed Cleethorpes over the line for Holmes to score. The lead was now 17 points and Belper were looking good. Smith back at fly half was controlling things and bringing the runners into the game well. Belper should have seen the half out but unfortunately the home side scored right on half time. From a fumbled line out they gathered it in the centre. Belper seemed to stop as it looked like a knock on but the Cleethorpes centre didn’t hesitate and scored well reducing the gap at half time to 10. Just before the break Innocent was shown yellow for offside, a very strange decision as the play was in the middle of the pitch.

The second half started a much tighter game with nothing really happening in the first 25 minutes. Cleethorpes were always going to be a dangerous team and they struck with 2 quick tries. Both tries coming through good work by their centre. He spotted that the Belper fly half had been taken out and lay injured and made the most of the numbers. Belper also lost Matthews after he was shown yellow for tackling in the air. No complaints about that decision. Belper now had York on and Blount and the fresh legs were helping Belper push towards the line. The final 5 minutes was a tense affair with a Cleethorpes player seeing yellow for deliberate knock on and Belper going over the line only for Blount to be adjudged as held up. Cleethorpes stood firm and deffened the scrum well and saw out their victory.

Although the defeat hurt, Belper played very well and continued to improve as a team. Despite all the changes everyone worked hard and just came up short. After loosing 2 other games in such close fashion lets hope that’s the bad luck has ended with this third close defeat. Credit to Cleethorpes though they are a good hard but clean team to play against and was played in the right spirit.