Mustangs vs Beckenham – Sat 27th September
A Mustangs side, which for the 3rd successive week featured many changes from the week before, played their first home game of the season, where the visitors were last season’s league champions Beckenham. Over the past 3 season, this fixture has always been hotly contested and often both sides are in the running to finish top of the league.
Maidstone took an early lead via the cultured boot of Duncan “Chunky” McClintock. Being the good side they are, Beckenham came back hard at the home side, and scored two quick tries in reply, both of which were converted. Maidstone were the masters of their own downfall on both occasions, whereby sloppy tackling in the midfield allowed Beckenham to break the line and score. In between the two Beckenham tries, “Chunky” added another penalty. Maidstone’s new look back line gradually improved as the half wore on, with some good phases of handling and running only be tarnished by the final pass. However it was through a good run from inside centre Tom Moon which led to Maidstone’s solitary try of the afternoon. After being halted initially, Moon was driven forward by his pack, though was held up over the line. From the resulting scrum, fly half “Chunky” McKlintock bundled his way over the line to score to the right of the posts. He converted his own try to make the score 13-14 to Beckenham, and this is how the half ended.
Not long into the 2nd half and Maidstone took the lead, through the boot of McKlintock once again, as his penalty gave the Mustangs a 16-14 lead. The rest of the half ebbed and flowed, with the Mustangs looking comfortable in keeping the Beckenham backs, who are normally a potent force, reasonably quiet. With 9 minutes remaining, the Mustangs conceded a penalty in front of their own posts for being offside at a ruck. The penalty was converted, giving the lead back to Beckenham.
However Maidstone found new resolve and immediately put the pressure back on the away team. Maidstone pressed deep into the Beckenham 22 and with the referee playing advantage to Maidstone, it looked likely that they would score in some form. However, just as Maidstone passed the ball wide, the ref called “advantage over” and the ball went astray and Maidstone had blown a guilt edged scoring opportunity. To make matters worse, Beckenham worked their way into Maidstone territory, and Mustangs ill-discipline again resulted in a kickable penalty opportunity, which the Beckenham kicker duly accepted. The game finished 16-20 to the away side, in what was a very even contest, and a good game to watch. Ultimately though, the Mustangs will rue the fact they were unable to make the most of their opportunities and close out the game. On the positive side, it was a vast improvement on the previous week, and with some stability hopefully in terms of selection and availability, the side should be able to move forward.
There were good performances throughout the side on Saturday, but some stood out more than others. Firstly, despite his protests, David “Jonah” Tugwell, who was clearly still adrenaline fuelled from the excitement of watching “Axe Men”, had a great game on the wing, making several shed-storming runs (they weren’t big enough to be classed barn-storming) and being his usual nuggety and aggressive self in the tackle and rucks he got involved in. Tom Moon had a great game at inside centre, and when you consider he is a flanker by trade, it was a great effort. In the pack, it was a pleasure to welcome back “The Big Rig” Darren Yates and his aggressive running was a feature of the afternoon. The back row trio of Luke Day, Ben Walker and Ian Lee worked well as a unit, and having a pacey back row made a big difference. All were exceptional in defence and equally adept in attack.
The Man of the Match award this week goes to Duncan McClintock, who scored all the Mustangs points, but also marshalled the back line well.
Moving swiftly on to Div of the Day. It seems only right and proper that as 1) he hasn’t had a mention yet and moans if he doesn’t get at least one reference and 2) he was making his Mustangs return, that the award goes to Nick East. However it is totally deserved as the Mustangs skipper, when asked if he wanted a scrum from where Beckenham had kicked the ball dead from (which was not too far from the Maidstone 10 metre line) or a 22 drop out, he elected for the 22 restart.
Next week the Mustangs are away to TJ’s II.
Team:-
Coates, East, Thurgood, Coles, Yates, B Walker, Day, Lee, McPherson, McClintock, Cairns, Moon, Dyke, Tugwell, Strydom, Glover, M Graves, N Graves
Coaches – Shaun Neaves, Gary Whitehead
Physio – Catherine Grundy
Manager – Laurence Waters
