Drama as Walden win with the last kick of the game

Walden travelled down to North London to play Hampstead in the 2nd round of the National Intermediate Cup. Playing on a good pitch at Hampstead Heath it was going to be a stern test as Hampstead sit high on the North West League.
Walden had decided to rest some of the regulars giving chances to a number of players who have been on the bench to start and 4 others making their first team debuts.
The game kicked off with the wind in Waldens favour but they could not capitalize on the advantage and were soon down 3 points after giving a penalty away for offside.
However for the next 15 minutes Walden looked the more threatening as they camped inside the home 22 turning down at least one kickable penalty in their effort to get a try, But it was not to be and eventually Hampstead broke free setting up a good attacking move with some slick offloads to go over in the corner to stretch their lead to 8 Nil. Then on the half hour mark they scored another similar try, this time taking the full 7 points 15 – 0. 30 mins
However Walden 's defence started to come together and they put pressure on the Hampstead attack near the half way line, 2nd Row Brad Baker intercepted a loose pass and had the pace to out sprint the covering defence to score. Tom Price playing at Fly Half stepped up to convert 15 – 7.
The half time whistle soon went and Walden knew they had an up hill battle in the second half with the elements now against them. Things were made more difficult when after 20 mins Hampstead scored their 3rd try to extend their lead 20 -7.
However Walden knew that this was still only 2 scores and if they could just get one another might come.
Walden's pack were now getting the better of the scrums and they proceeded to work the ball deep inside the Hampstead 22. Wave after wave of attack forced Hampstead to concede 2 or 3 penalties for off side only a few metres from the line and when with 8
mins to go Scrum-half and Captain for the day Paul Marshall was pulled into a ruck before he had his hands on the ball preventing him passing out to an obvious over lap, the referee lost patience and gave a penalty try. 20 – 14.
Walden were now dominating and again worked the ball towards the Hampstead try line knowing that one converted try would win them the game. With 2 mins to go they went down the blind side on 3rd phase ball and man of the match No8 Nik Baker barrelled over the line but some great defence from Hampstead held the ball up. From the resulting 5 metre scrum Walden won the ball and set up another couple of phases only to knock the ball on to give Hampstead a scrum. The Referee called final play and many of the spectators thought that was it but the pack put in one last Herculean effort to drive Hampstead off the ball, a couple of controlled phases saw them suck in a few defenders, the ball was spun out to the right wing who beat a defender to go over about 20 metres out from the touch line 20- 19 with the conversion to come. Kicking into a strong breeze this was never going to be easy and as the rest of the team lined up on the half way line, with the spectators keeping respectfully quiet Tom Price went through his routine, took aim and kicked. The ball sailed into the sky and just before the wind blew it sideways it went between the sticks and Walden had won the game 20 -21. A thrilling end to the game that was played in the right spirit.
Walden can now look forward to seeing who they get in the 3rd round which will be played in early Feb.
League action resumes this Saturday with a home game v Rochford with a 2pm kick off.