Solid Away Win

Didcot travelled to Crowthorne with a somewhat untested side. Five players were making their Didcot league debuts and a further five players being called up from the 2nd team squad.
Didcot started well and dominated the opening 20 minutes of the game. However, they wasted a number of scoring opportunities. They eventually took the lead with a try from winger Will Burchette in the 20th minute. The conversion was missed. For the next 10 minutes Didcot camped in the Crowthorne 22, the home team conceding a string of penalties close to their line which resulted in a yellow card. This was followed by two quick tries from Ben Huxley and Chris Marsh (his 1st for the club). Both conversions were missed and Didcot went into half time 0-15 ahead.
The start of the second half saw Didcot up the intensity. In the 41st minute Elliot Dandridge sped through the Crowthorne defence to score the bonus point try. The conversion was made by Ben Huxley. This was quickly followed by a penalty try when Will Burchette was illegally tackled as he was about to score. This took Didcot up to 29 points. They kept applying pressure and were rewarded with a 50th minute Lawrence Birkhead try. This was also converted by Ben Huxley. Five minutes later Chris Marsh went over for his second try, again converted by Ben Huxley and 2 minutes later a great run by Luke Wilson resulted in an unconverted try. Didcot were now leading 0-48.
At this point the game became a little fractious with the referee give 2 yellow cards to Didcot (Stephen Moran and Ben Huxley) and one yellow to Crowthorne. In the 67th minute Didcot received a further yellow card for Blake Cookson and the referee awarded Crowthorne a penalty try.
However, Didcot delivered the final points of the game with another break from Will Burchette to collect his second of the match.
The Final score was Crowthorne 7 Didcot 53.
In truth this was a patchy display from Didcot which was lightened by a couple of periods of dominance. Crowthorne are an honest side and put together some decent patches particularly when they got their forwards moving.