Saturday 8th September 2012

Despite an heroic comeback in the last quarter, Aston just failed to overcome Leek’s 18 point advantage, but did pick up a bonus point.
Aston started strongly, and were awarded a penalty in the first minute with neither side having touched the ball in open play, when first the kick-off went straight into touch, and then the scrum was delayed. Tom McNamee attempted a shot at gaol from the half way line, and whilst he had the distance, the kick went narrowly wide.

He had no trouble 5 minutes later though, when he easily converted another penalty from 40 metres out after a high tackle was awarded against Leek. The visitors responded quickly, and scored the first try of the afternoon when they turned the ball over at the kick-off, sucked the Aston midfield defence in, and then span the ball wide to give the right wing an easy run in.

They extended their lead after 10 minutes, when Aston were caught offside 20 metres out, and repeated the act on 15 minutes when flanker Lea Ross was yellow carded for a high tackle on his own 22. Further trouble was to follow for Aston, as they lost Pat Clarke to the sin bin leaving the home side with 13 players for 5 minutes. Aston were forced to defend , which they did with some excellent work from centre Josh Walker and Matt O’Hare preventing leek from going further ahead.
Eventually a 70 yard relieving kick from Tom McNamee eased the pressure, and despite being 2 men down, Aston almost scored when a driving maul from a line out was making ground, only to be penalised for accidental offside.

The succession of penalties against Aston continued, and Leek stretched their lead to 17-3 on the stroke of half-time with another simple penalty from 20 metres out.

Aston knew they had a long haul ahead of them, and needed to reduce eth penalty count against them, and with Ross turning over 2 balls in quick succession in the opening passages of play, and McNamee kicking another penalty from 40 metres, it looked promising for the home side.
However, leek continued to cause eth Aston defence problems, and only a desperate cover tackle by O’Hare prevented a try after 10 minutes. Not to be denied, Leek crashed over the try line 2 minutes later from a quick tap penalty, awarded for yet another Aston indiscretion, and with the successful conversion had built up what looked like an unassailable 24-6 lead.

With their tails up, Leek bombarded the Aston line, and again Aston had to defend resolutely, with Paul Horrocks particularly prominent. Aston eventually cleared to half-way, and seemed to be buoyed by their defensive work. A strong midfield charge by Michael Tate, was taken on by McNamee who found Matt Dudley outside him, but not for the first time, the final pace didn’t find the outside runner and the opportunity went begging. Going into the last quarter, Aston changed tack, and started to use their forwards in close support to gain ground. A 5 yard line out was caught and driven on over the line, for Adam Baldock, celebrating his 100th 1st XV appearance to touchdown. Chris Cheney added the conversion.

With the clock ticking down, Aston repeated the exercise from another line out, and whilst the first drive was stopped, Horrocks was on hand to pick up and drive over to reduce the deficit to 24-18. Aston could see the wining post, and in the final seconds attempted to same move, this time from the Leek 22. Leek dragged the first attempt down, and Aston kicked to the corner to attempt to replicate the procedure. However, some solid defence from the Staffordshire side held out first the line out drive, and then a 5 yard scrum to hold on for the victory.

Despite the encouraging comeback, Aston will look back on the first 2 matches of the season, both lost by a single score, and reflect on the volume of penalties conceded.