Five Ways O.E. 24-20 Barton-Under-Needwood

So, at the fourth time of asking, it finally happened... Having seen the game postponed twice due to snow and rain, and abandoned once in truly awful conditions, both sides and indeed the referee would have been glad to wake up to a glorious, early summer's day. In fact, as the players warmed up, the cricket matches taking place on the adjoining pitches seemed far more appropriate.

Five Ways had "nothing to play for" in terms of league standing - having secured our status in the division 2 weeks previously against Harborne so it was the visitors with it all to do. The permutations were fairly straightforward - only a Barton win would keep them in the division at the expense of Bromyard. Our "Southern" friends must have been chewing hard on fingernails awaiting the result.

In terms of the side, the hosts went with one very similar to that which had been leading the abandoned game at its premature conclusion. As, in that game, "apart from the stand off there wasn't a Five Ways back that would have made (the Barton) second team", the visitors could have been forgiven for feeling confident of achieving their aim. That confidence would have been even further boosted when, 20 mins in, the aforementioned stand off had to retire with a pulled hamstring. At this stage, Barton were deep in the Five Ways 22 having had the better of the opening exchanges. The following 10 mins brought more dominance which led to repeated infringements and a yellow card for the Five Ways open side. Barton capitalised and their dominance was now rewarded with a penalty and converted try seeing them into a 0-10 lead and buoying their busload of spectators.

Perhaps trying to make up for the lack of ability in the backline, it was the Five Ways forwards that started the comeback. A break from one second row saw him tackled at the last moment on the opponents 5 metre line. His offload found the hooker in support who rode the tackling of the covering winger and offloaded to the other second row who went in under the posts. A "backs try" scored by forwards. Worryingly, the conversion was missed in front of the post (taking the season tally to 0 from 8 for Five Ways v Barton) and the halftime whistle saw both sides take a much needed breather in the conditions with the score at 5-10.

The home side started a little better in the second half with the replacement fly half calling the shots expertly and it wasn't long until the ball found its way to the wing. Perhaps inspired by the running of his front five in the first half, the Nigerian international / Barton 3rd teamer found an extra yard of pace to pass his opposite number and round under the posts. Amazingly, we managed to score the conversion to take the lead and temporarily silence the visiting crowd.

Barton started to reclaim the upper hand and had the better of possession disrupting Five Ways set pieces throughout and thus starving us of ball. They reclaimed the lead with another penalty and then scored their second try with the winger breaking several tackles to crash over. The conversion was added and the Barton spectators were breathing again at 12-20.

As the game swung too and fro, the hosts started to solidify the set pieces and make good yards through the strong ball carriers in the pack. Again the ball was moved wide early and once again our "lucky Nigerian" found some space out wide to get across the line and get us back within a score (of course the conversion was missed). 17-20 entering the last 5 minutes.

That last five minutes was backs to the wall for the visitors. Ways had one kickable penalty which they turned down. They tried another and missed it (10th miss of the season vs. Barton) and the opposition players and spectators must have been feeling they had weathered the storm. The last 30 seconds, the ball found its way to another of those backs from the abandoned game. He beat one man in seemingly impossible space, then another and then another as he cut back in getting closer and closer to the sticks. With the final defender passed both sides knew that was the game. As he touched down, whilst there were no actual fireworks to let off, the reaction of the home players and supporters must have reached a similar decibel level. Victory snatched from the jaws of defeat with a bonus point and even a conversion to put the gloss on it. 24-20 final score.

We finished in sixth place in the league - a great achievement for a newly promoted side and plenty to build on for next year. The key was not to drop back to the league below - a tougher league than some clubs give it credit for - and we achieved that comfortably in the end. There have been some tough times (I WAS at Bishop's Castle...) and some great performances (too many to mention) but we have proved, in a game where ultimately you get what you deserve, that we deserve to be back at this level and that we can hopefully kick on in the future.

As I would not want to motivate any potential opposition through words on my website, let me also congratulate Market Drayton and Uttoxeter for fantastic seasons and their promotions. To Telford and Barton - commiserations on finishing in the bottom 2 but, if you do both drop down, we hope to renew acquaintances sometime soon. To the rest of the sides - it has been a pleasure to take you all on this year and we look forward to seeing you again.

As for Bromyard... I think you owe us a few beers!!!