Chesterfield U14 24pts Matlock U14 5 pts

Chesterfield U14 24pts Matlock U14 5 pts
After last week’s re-enactment of the Battle of Britain this week I felt more like a WW1 General sending his troops over the top.
On the face of it, it looks like a very disappointing result given that Matlock had won all recent encounters, though most had been closely contested. Score lines don’t always tell the whole story but usually and in this case do reflect the game on the day. Chesterfield will and should be pleased to have deservedly won by points gained but Matlock held their own with effort given.
Matlock received the kick off and defied the late changes forced upon them by illness and absences for which I’m still to find out all of the reasons.( I hate reports that start like this with excuses when you’ve lost but this isn’t an excuse just background to understand better the effort put in by the Matlock players and why I’m not overly disappointed )
Special mention for Olly Johnson for agreeing to prop for the first time and Max Clarke for volunteering to play in the forwards. Both did their best for the team and played well, thank you.
Immediately the forwards took the game to Chesterfield driving down the pitch and rucking excellently. The ball was moved through several phases across the backs and with good changes in the point of attack more directly through the forwards. I’m not sure Chesterfield touched the ball in anger before Matlock’s Wright on about 10 minutes powered his way over the line through a thinning defence sucked in by the excellent recycling. The kick was missed .My pre-match concerns seemed misplaced in these early skirmishes.
From the kick off Gunner Garratt caught well and continued the early momentum driving into the Panthers pack. It was at this point however that some basic errors began to give momentum to the home side who would always be dangerous with their strong runners in the backs. It was noticeable that as Chesterfield got more of the ball the confidence seesaw was always moving in their favour. History told them that they should struggle but they were getting more ball than usual against Matlock .As the confidence grew they found they were able to launch several attacks particularly through the excellent centre who was well covered by Burns but always a threat. His threat created opportunities for others around him and only scrambling defence by Matlock kept them out. About 20 minutes into the game Matlock defending in their 22 failed to relieve the pressure by missing touch again and then failed to tackle sufficiently well enough as Chesterfield ran strongly to equal the score.
The trend for the match i feel was now set with the confidence seesaw firmly moved towards Chesterfield. Matlock were looking wearier and less sure and needed to find some reserve to move things back their way. The half finished with a further Panthers attack down the left wing only thwarted by an excellent covering tackle by Hartley as his dive forced the player into the flag and dislodged the ball at the same time. Half time came with the scores level but Chesterfield in the ascendency.
At the interval i could sense some doubt in the camp and tried to reassure them that they could pull together to win the match but with several key players missing they weren’t convinced. I had no “cunning plan” just words of encouragement. Confidence and fatigue are strange imposters in that one strongly affects the other, too much of either is bad and yet it is difficult to have both.( If you see what I mean)
Matlock’s confidence took another knock early in the second half as Chesterfield continued the pressure and scored a couple of tries through the centre. It was noticeable that a few of Matlock’s players still refuse to tackle properly trying to grip their opponent in a crab like pinch.
To their credit Matlock continued to put in a high level of effort and had their own opportunities but were not quite able to take them. The closest being Doyle who in only his second game of rugby was tackling like a demon and made a lovely inside break only to be caught inches from the line. Support was just too slow in getting there. Matlock had a few attacking scrums but were unable to make anything of them. Chesterfield cleared their lines with a sound kick to touch. Matlock continued to try and attack at every opportunity and strong runs from Savage and Buswell made ground. Clarke at flanker was making more tackles than he normally does in a season in the backs. However Matlock on a couple of occasions attempted silly passes which went to no-one except the Chesterfield winger who picked up and ran in under the posts and with the successful kick finishing the game at 24-5.
In the words of the ref “the score line flatters Chesterfield. It was a closer game than that”.
As i stated at the beginning score lines don’t always tell the whole story because this was a valiant effort by a Matlock team bereft of 6 of its usual starters. Everyone should be happy with the effort they put in and continue to work hard to improve. It was also good experience for everyone playing new positions ( Olly and Max may not agree) and also it shows that everyone in the squad has a role to play. It also means that everyone needs to learn as many skills as possible and not leave it to others so that when you are called upon to tackle or drive or pass etc you can and do.