The game started with both teams taking it in turns to attack and both being thwarted by stem defence or simple mistakes. The Mustangs carved out a couple of opportunities which they failed to capitalize on by either dropping the pass or running away from their support. It was a nervous start by both teams. The Mustang’s quickly got their lineout’s working with Lewis connecting well with Dryden. The scrums were much more even with both teams winning the ball against the head. The referee was being very strict and after a couple of warning to both teams the Mustang’s were reduced to 14 when Voller was asked to take a rest for holding on. Alton attacked furiously for almost the full 10 minutes but were unable to break through. No sooner were the Mustang’s back to full strength than Patience was sent to the sin-bin. Alton finally used the numerical advantage and scored with some well timed passing down the back line to allow the winger the round the defence and score under the posts for a converted try.

At half time the Mustang’s knew they were in a game and, reduced to 14 men, needed to depend on their defence to ensure Alton didn’t score again. During this time Wakefield and Briggs excelled both putting in big tackles that drove Alton back. Once back to full strength the Mustangs started to dominate and put pressure on the Alton defence. A number of times they attacked only to give away a penalty, allowing Alton to clear their lines. With 10 minutes remaining they made the breakthrough with scrum half Bevan scampering over for a try after fine work from the forwards creating quick ball. The extras went begging and a nail biting finish was assured. Mustangs’ captain, Kemp, rallied his players for their final assault. Wilson has a couple of runs but somehow Alton cleared their lines and even threatened to score again.

The Mustangs scrum then won the ball against the head and fly half Patience broke out of defence beating two players before punting the ball over the Alton defence before he was collected by an Alton defender. It was now Alton’s turn to have their numbers reduced as the tackle was adjudged to have been late. The Mustangs sensibly elected for a scrum on the 5 metre line, which they secured allowing Mackay to pick and a powerful run saw him hand off a couple of defenders before crashing over the line to score. Renwick calmly added the extra points to give the Mustangs a 5-point lead. All that was now left was for the Mustang’s to receive the kick and see out the last minute, which they duly did.

It was perhaps fitting that Mackay provided the winning score as he had been the Mustang’s ‘man of the match’ with some destructive tackling and fine breaks from which he constantly made good yardage and was never stopped by the first defender.

Supporters of the Mustang’s will know that they never give up, playing right to the last whistle and therefore it really should not be of any surprise for them to have won the game with only a minute remaining. Alton for their part contributed to making this a very tense and exciting final that could have gone either way.

At the end of the game the Mustangs’ captain, Max Kemp, was awarded the trophy and the boys rightly celebrated their win.

Team: Bevan, Boulton, Briggs, Caines, Dryden, Fitzpatrick, Haslett, Kemp, Lewis, Lynch, Mackay, Monks, Patience, Peskett, Renwick, Voller, Wakefield, Wilson

Report by Steve Dryden