Match Report

Maidstone 10 v Sidcup 24

by Trevor Langley

London 2 South

Home at The Mote, Saturday 8 November, 2008, Kick Off –2.30pm

Sidcup came to the Mote in mid-table on another dank, rainy afternoon and left with the points from this London League 2 encounter. But it could have been so different if Maidstone had employed a more basic, kicking game in the second half with the slope and conditions in their favour.

The game yielded a number of positives for the home side, not least the greater urgency and cohesion they showed in the middle section of the second half, but it is difficult to put old heads on young shoulders, and Maidstone suffered another defeat in no large part as a consequence of their tactical naivety.

With Piers Frances unavailable following his concussion last week, Tom Searles stepped up to start in the stand off half position, with Glover coming into the centre and Martin Arnold moving to full back. In an effort to provide more beef in the front row, John O’Brien came in for Steve Coates while Ben Court returned at No 8.

The early exchanges were inconclusive but, almost for the first time this season, Maidstone did not give away a soft, early try. However, after two penalties to the visitors failed to dent the Maidstone defence, a third on the five metre line led to a try by blind side flanker, John Ford, with ten minutes on the clock.

Maidstone had an early opportunity to reduce the arrears, when, from the restart, they were awarded a penalty 40 metres out in front of the posts. Searles’ effort hit the left upright and bounced back into play.

Despite the changes in the scrum, Maidstone’s pack looked under pressure in the tight while the line-out was too much of a lottery to deliver consistent ball, both factors preventing three quarters finding their feet. Searles was showing a fine pair of hands in the wet conditions although some of his decision making was too ponderous, cramping the options of those outside him when he elected to pass.

The last ten minutes of the first half proved decisive as Sidcup ran in two tries from seemingly unthreatening positions when Maidstone found themselves outmanoeuvred in routine, one-on-one tackling positions. With the second of the two being converted by full back Pilgrim, the visitors went into the break 17 points up.

Maidstone began the second half with purpose and had a good opportunity to reduce the arrears after ten minutes but Searles’ long range penalty effort just fell short. But five minutes later, a quick tap-penalty by scrum half Laurent saw him scamper through the first line of defence before feeding Mark Ryan, in close support, to outstrip the full back to touch down out wide.

The good work engendered by this score and the improved urgency in the Maidstone play was then undone by a poor piece of defensive play, when an up-and-under from the Sidcup stand off was gathered by the chasing full back, when outnumbered by Maidstone players, to run in from the 22 under the posts. With a simple conversion, the lead was stretched to 24-5. But with a quarter of the match remaining and Maidstone finding greater cohesion, there remained hope. This was turned into reality by a further try to the home side on the half hour, when Laurent stole the ball from the Sidcup No 8, following a scrum, and scampered over the line from 30 metres.

A cut head forced Searles to leave the field, requiring Maidstone to play the last ten minutes with a reshuffled back line. But it was collective amnesia that afflicted the team when they persistently tried to run from their own 22 rather than apply their boots to the ball to get down into the visitors half. On such a wet afternoon, this simple tactic would surely have yielded more results. On such simple thinking are games won and lost!

Team

Sam Bailey; Nick East (Fin Davis 50 mins); John O’Brien: Andy Bacon; Sam Johnston: Nick Sargent; Tom Castle (Matt Iles 60 mins); Ben Court: Ed Laurent; Tom Searles: Gareth Hill; Richard Glover (Sam McPherson 65 mins); Mark Ryan; Duncan McClintock: Martin Arnold