Gillingham Anchorians II 23-29 Maidstone III

Tries: Maddaford, Wood, Maytum, McKellar, Dyke
Cons: Baxter 2

Another game, another win for the dream team, but this week the threes very nearly gifted a win to the opposition after a sloppy performance.

Maidstone started sharply and were soon awarded a penalty on half way, which Baxter kicked to the corner. A strong catch and drive followed and the Maidstone pack rolled their way up to and over the line with Nigel Maddaford seeming to ground the ball. However, the referee had other ideas, awarding a five metre scrum.  

Although Anchorians survived on this occasion, it didn’t take Maidstone long to break the deadlock. A good chip and chase by Baxter put Maidstone deep in Anchorians territory and when another maul formed on the five metre line, Maddaford was not to be denied, crashing over for the opening try. Baxter missed the conversion.

Despite the dream team dominating the opening exchanges, Gillingham soon found themselves level with a breakaway try. When a promising move by the Maidstone backs broke down on half way, the home side’s left winger scooped up the loose ball and won the race to the line to score in the corner. The conversion was missed leaving the scores level after ten minutes.

The disappointment of conceding spurred Maidstone into action and the dream team hit back with three tries in the space of a few minutes. Good running from the Maidstone backs took possession deep into the opposition 22. Maidstone quickly won the resulting ruck and, with the Anchorians defence preoccupied with the Maidstone centres, Wood sold a good dummy before skipping out of a tackle to waltz under the posts. Baxter converted to make the score 5-12.

Maidstone ran the restart straight back at Anchorians and Gavin Dyke made a superb break through the centre and looked to be heading under the posts only to be denied by a last gasp tap tackle by the full back. Gillingham were penalised at the resulting ruck and Maidstone opted to kick for the right corner. A superb catch and drive followed and Maytum crashed over. Baxter converted to make the score 5-17.

Again Maidstone attacked straight from the restart with Dyke breaking the line again. He offloaded to Major on half way who then floated a superb pass out to the flying Ben Mckellar. He outpaced the defence to bag a superb score in the left corner.

At 5-24 Maidstone looked to be cruising but again they gifted the home side a try. Eager to run the ball out from anywhere, Maidstone conceded a penalty just outside there own 22 when they were penalised for crossing. Anchorians took a quick tap with their burley tighthead setting up a ruck deep in the Maidstone 22. The home side recycled the ball quickly and span it right, converting a five on three overlap to score under the posts. The try was converted leaving it 12-24 at half time.

With the wind now in their favour, Anchorians began to take advantage of the conditions and the left-to-right slope by kicking into the right corner to pin Maidstone in their own territory.

This approach soon paid dividends when Anchorians won a lineout on the Maidstone 22. After winning clean ball, a well executed backs move resulted in a two on one and the Anchorians fullback showed good pace to score in the right corner. The conversion was missed, but at 17-24, the home side were eating into the lead.

Maidstone were making hard work of what should have been a comprehensive victory. A combination of the dream team’s inability to strike the killer blow and some questionable refereeing was allowing Gillingham back into the game. The home side then cut Maidstone’s lead even further with two penalties in the space of five minutes and, with ten minutes still to play, the score was 23-24.

The momentum was now with the home side but with nine minutes to go, Maidstone struck what proved to be the decisive score with a superbly executed backs move from a scum on the half way. Blindside wing Ben Mckellar flew onto Wood’s inside pass to speed through a huge gap in the defence. Mckellar was eventually scragged on the 22 but offloaded well to Major, who put Dyke over in the left corner. Wood was unable to add the extras and with just six points in it and eight minutes to play, the home side were still in with a shout.

Another suspect penalty enabled Anchorians to kick to the corner. A series of Anchorians lineouts followed but good work from the Maidstone forwards prevented them from winning any quality ball and when the home side’s fly half put an aimless kick into the 22, the danger looked to have passed. However, a knock on by a Maidstone hand gave the home side one last chance with a scrum deep in the 22. Again the danger seemed to have passed when Maidstone took the ball against the head but Baxter’s attempted box kick was charged down and only some desperate rucking retrieved the ball for the dream team. At the second time of asking Baxter made no mistake and cleared the ball to touch to signal the final whistle.

Final score 23-29.

Laing (Capt), Murphy, Maytum (Thurgood 40), Fish (Wright 40), Maddaford, Coleman (Williams 40), Challis, Massey, Baxter, Wood, Dyke, Major, Bates, McKellar, Moor