Droitwich 40-10 NOE

Old Eds were the equal of Droitwich for the first 55 minutes, when Droitwich’s focus and fitness on a demanding pitch began to take its toll, with Droitwich racking up a 40-10 win.

Alarm bells were ringing almost immediately when the Droitwich No12’s damaging run deep brought the best from Eds’ scramble defence. However, their No2 took advantage of a gap at a ruck and ran through to set up a colleague to score: 7-0. Eds’ took the game back into the opposition half and forced an off-side decision for No10 Brad Darlaston to slot the 40m penalty: 7-3.

An outrageous bounce put Droitwich’s No14 clear: 14-3. Again, Eds’ responded with a fine carry from No12 Craig Jones’ to score under the posts: 14-10 after fourteen minutes. The injured Dave McAdam was replaced by Gareth Cartwright at No3. The half proceeded with each side cancelling out the efforts of the other.

The teams came out at half-time in determined mode charging at each other in a battle for domination. Droitwich were more intense than earlier and the Eds did well to hold them. The Eds then spent a period of possession in the Droitwich 22, inching towards the try-line, but unable to get over it. Droitwich took the ball upfield and some strong direct running enabled their No8 to score under the posts: 21-10. Within minutes their powerful right-wing took advantage of poor tackling to score: 28-10 and the match had suddenly got away from the Eds. Similar strong running from Droitwich saw a further two tries to reach 40-10.

The last minutes of the match were lit up by an exciting run from Eds’ No13 Tay Brown, Taking the ball on his own line he ran through two tackles, and dummied to beat the next challenge, reaching the home 22 line, where an infringement ended the move.

Final score 40-10.

To avoid relegation the Eds’ still need to beat visitors Earlsdon on the final match of the season.

Old Eds First Team: S Haberfield, G Parker, D McAdam, B Jones, P Levin, P King, J Darlaston, R Hatch, S Pittam, B Darlaston, L Roberts, T Brown, C Jones, D Parkinson, R Galloway
Subs: G Cartwright, C Fielding, T Smith