Weekly News Round Up 15th Jan 2006
Well, from the point of view of a fixture secretary, this was the week from hell with only 1 out of 6 fixtures going according to plan.
The biggest casualty of the week was the Kent Cup Tie with Lordswood, which had promised to be a terrific encounter but which ended up as a walk-over to Maidstone.
As a result, the first team didn’t get a game at all but ended up benefiting from a useful squad session instead. Apologies to anyone who turned up to see the match but the circumstances were completely beyond the control of anyone at Maidstone.
The Mustangs fixture with Sevenoaks was the only one that proceeded as scheduled and its good to report that The Mustangs held out for a 12- 7 win despite conceding a try in the last 5 minutes. Nail-biting stuff – especially after what had happened against Dunstonians the previous week.
The A Team had been scheduled to play Medway II but having already beaten them by 80 points back in October, it was agreed that it would be best to look for something else. It was agreed that East Grinstead should send their 2nd team with a few first teamers on board and we must give credit to them for agreeing the fixture and making the trip to Maidstone when they had been expecting a home fixture. (Hope we can play a return some time). I’m reliably informed that Maidstone should never have won this one, but thanks to some amazing resolute defence, win they did, despite being somewhat understrength this week.
The Extra A had no fixture scheduled so when we received a call from Old Williamsonians I/II on a non-league weekend, it seemed like a reasonable idea.
On the day, it didn’t help Maidstone’s cause that they were 2 short owing to some no-shows, but shortages notwithstanding, it was I believe a complete mis-match. However, Tony Lee was full of praise for the way Old Wills played the game and felt that they had learnt a lot from the experience (like don’t trust your fixture secretary).
I hope that Trevor will be equally philosophical following the fixture I got him for The B XV against Rye RFC after Old Brocks IV cried off. “Around Cranbrook III sort of standard” I was told but impartial observers felt that Rye would have been a good match for Maidstone A and they duly chalked up a 60 odd point winning margin.
The only member of the B I found in the bar afterwards was Steve Pooley and he told me that “it was a great game” but somehow I’m still dreading Trevor’s email in the morning. The 2 plus points were that it wasn’t played at Rye and that Hippo (Simon Hollister) played the second half for the B against his former club.
All winning runs must finish somewhere and The Veterans crashed and burned at Sevenoaks without their Talismanic skipper Glyn Richards to lead them on the field of play. When NAG Vets cried off, the Vets jumped at the chance to test their mettle against Sevenoaks Vets ( who now play as Sevenoaks 4th team and who are ominously unbeaten at the top of Mid Kent B). In fairness to Maidstone Vets, they were probably conceding an average of between 5 and 10 years per man (and at least 25 years in Paul Ehrhart’s case) so despite turning around only 5 points down, they were unable to contain a second half onslaught of straight running that saw them lose 34-0. Sevenoaks were magnanimous enough to concede that they had been under enormous pressure in the 1st half and that had Maidstone managed to score at that stage, the final score would have looked very different - like 34-7. Cheers fellas. J
So ends a difficult week but it could have been worse.
Next week’s fixtures should all go according to plan but it’s a mighty tough week for Maidstone.
The 1sts have a tough trip to 3rd placed Sevenoaks where, despite winning by 50 points last season, they will do extremely well to come away with a win.
The Mustangs face Sidcup in the league and will be keen to get a convincing win after sharing the points in the away match. The A are away in the league to a very good Lordswood II side that cried off the home fixture and will be keen to test themselves against the league leaders . The Extra A are away to NAG II who were unbeaten in the league until they came to Maidstone earlier in the season and will be seeking to reverse that result. The B are away to unbeaten league leaders Lordswood III. The Vets face Vigo III.
So its all hands on deck please. Your club needs you.
RE
Stop Press: Maidstone have a home draw against Blackheath in the quarter finals of the Kent Cup.