Graves encouraged by improved display

The Blues bounced back!

Mal Graves admitted he was a far happier man as Whitstable picked up their third win of the season in Shepherd Neame Kent 1 on Saturday.

The Blues bounced back from the previous week's disappointing 22-20 home defeat to Foots Cray by producing a vastly improved display at the Chaucer Ground.

They raced into a 22-20 lead before the game was interrupted after Sheppey's Brett Shambrook had suffered a neck injury.

The match was delayed for around 90 minutes as the teams awaited an ambulance and treatment to the player.

Sheppey's tries both came after the game had resumed on the much heavier second team pitch but Whitstable player-coach Graves was happy enough with the victory against the division's second bottom club.

He Said: "The performance was a big improvement on the previous week. We did the basics far better and out error count was far lower than it had been against Foots Cray.

"I've said all along that when we do the basics well we've a good side. We started impressively and had we not had to move to the second team pitch i think out winning margin would have been far bigger.

"It was windy, rainy the ptich was boggy and that probably suited them.

"They were heavy up front but to be fair we defended well."

Whitstable's main problem against Foots Cray was a failure to catch the ball consistently but they were far sharper against Sheppey and led 7-0 inside seven minutes.

Marck Olive was the scorer, with Andrew Huey converting and two more tries plus a penalty put them into an unassailable position until the injury to Shambrook caused a lengthy stoppage.

A forth try, again converted cam after the switch to the second team pitch while Sheppey countered with two converted scores.

Luke Pepper, Cameron Fry and skipper Ben Cliff were the other try scorers while Bobby Powell carried well.

The Blue in ninth travel to leaders Gillingham Anchorians on Saturday and Graves expects his side to give a good account of themselves.

They were beaten 36-21 at home when the teams met earlier on the season but the Blues did manage three tries on that occasion.

Graves added: "There are some good teams in this league but none that cause me to lose any sleep and if we maintain the standards we set against Sheppey we'll hopefully give them a game."

Match report credit to KM group