Victory at West Bridgford makes it four in a row

West Bridgford 15 v 19 Matlock
For this last fixture before the Christmas break Matlock travelled to Nottingham looking to continue the good run of form that had brought three excellent wins on the bounce. Matlock’s team-sheet initially saw three changes from the previous week with Ben Neville, James Fairclough and James Young all unavailable Tom Morton switched to the fly half berth giving Harry Boyd the opportunity to have a run at scrum half, Mike Allen moved from wing to inside centre and Marcus Bolam started on the wing. A head injury to hooker Charlie Jackson during the warm-up meant a start for Tom Wright on his return from injury and with the 2nd XV also playing at Bridgford Curtis Bolam got a well-deserved late call to fill the vacancy on the 1st XV bench alongside James Harrod and Josh Dixey.
Matlock made a good start from the kick off but despite playing some good rugby scoring opportunities were few and far between with the game being punctuated by a lot of handling errors. Eventually Matlock began to make the passes stick and on 20 minutes the opening score came courtesy of Dan Hooton who received the ball some 30 yards out fended off his opposite number and raced away unopposed to touch down under the posts. Tom Morton added the extras for a 0-7 lead. Shortly after Alex Powell left the field with a blood injury sustained through a rather obvious leading elbow which went unpunished, Josh Dixey came off the bench. Despite appearing to be in control too many unforced handling errors prevented Matlock from extending their lead. Instead the errors gave the home side opportunities to venture into the Matlock 22 with an attacking lineout. Bridgford’s throw was poor and Matlock won back possession but Morton’s attempted kick was charged down allowing Bridgford an easy score against the run of play. Matlock looked to hit back and twice they came very close but a little lack of patience and composure alongside some determined home defence meant that the score remained 7-7 at half time.
The second half began with Matlock immediately on the front foot and playing with pace and intensity putting the home side defence under extreme pressure and on 41 minutes following some great approach work Matlock moved the ball wide to Luke Howard who timed his pass perfectly giving Josh Dixey a simple run in to the corner. The conversion attempt was wide 7-12. The game continued to be a tight affair and Bridgford reduced the deficit with a penalty kick after an offside at a maul 10-12. Then on 55 minutes Matlock scored a fine team try from inside their own half. Tom Morton gave a short pass to Dan Hooton who picked a great line to scythe through the Bridgford midfield. With no clear pass on Hooton took the tackle and then a series of pick and drives took the ball on before a short pass to Mike Allen saw him use his power to break past would-be tacklers and crash over for the score. Morton added the extras 10-19. Moments later Matlock were awarded a penalty when the home side backs were caught offside. Morton’s kick bounced agonisingly back of the post and the game continued to be a tight affair into the final 5 minutes. Bridgford scored an unconverted try in the corner to make it a four point game but a determined Matlock were not going to let this one slip and finished the game on the attack looking for the bonus point try. As they were pressing for a score in the ball went into touch and the referee blew for no-side and a hard earned victory against difficult opposition.
Despite an unusual number of handling errors this was another good performance particularly from all the forwards who were dominant throughout the game. The boys now have a well-earned rest before their next match which will be away to Newark on 7th January kick off 2.15pm.
Team: Bunting J, Willingham-Statham J, Statham A, Atkinson C, Taylor T, Wright T, Cruttenden T, Wright S, Boyd H, Morton T, Bolam M, Allen M, Hooton D, Howard L, Powell A
Bench: Bolam C, Harrod J, Dixey J