A good performance but not quite good enough

Market Harborough welcomed 3rd placed Oundle to Northampton Road this weekend. Although it would ultimately prove to be a disappointing result there was much to be positive about in this performance.
Harborough came out of the blocks flying and immediately had Oundle pinned in their 22. Some great handling out wide almost led to a try within 2 minutes but Oundle scrambled Harvey Slade into touch and cleared from the lineout.
After that it became an attritional affair with neither team able to pull away. Market Harborough dominated the gain line with all the forwards putting in huge hits and chopping the big Oundle pack. It seemed that there might be some space out wide and several attacks made ground, including a great Tom Herdman charge down the right wing which almost led to a score.
The forwards put in some great carrying displays with Jack Digby, Tim Brown and Tom Herdman consistently breaking the gainline and Sam Blades showed that big lads can step and almost went over from several metres out.
The pressure led to opportunities at goal which Will Taylor converted to put Harborough up 6-0. Toward the end of the first half a penalty at the breakdown gave Oundle a position to build and their long haired prop, Saad Sait managed to squeeze over after a tremendous defensive effort from Harborough. The conversion missed and it remained 6-5 at half time

Oundle started the second half with more intensity than the first and were able to build pressure due to some errors by Market Harborough. Eventually the pressure told and Oundle went over through the forwards again. This time the kick was more simple and was converted to make the score 6-12. That was the final score of the match.
Harborough kept knocking at the door but in the end the Oundle defence remained firm to keep them out Although Harborough had dominance of the gainline and the scrummage it would remain a 6 point game. A loss then, but a losing bonus point against a top 3 team.
A frustrating afternoon in the end but the coaches will be happy to see the team growing and building performances week on week. The defence means that no team will look forward to playing us and with some senior players due to return and some breakthrough players really stepping up there is a lot to look forward to as we come to the Christmas period.