The warm autumnal spell that is lasting through September again left Woodnook bathed in golden sunshine as the visitors from Leicester took the field. Kesteven welcomed Will Bradley, and Will Cann back to fill the centre positions with Aaron Whitaker returning to his full-back spot.

The visitors looked to have a strong pack and they were intent on taking the game to Kesteven. The opening ten minutes were spent in the home half with the Kesteven defence being tested. Forest were awarded a couple of penalties which they chose to run rather than take the points. The defence held out and when the home pack rescued the ball it was spun out wide to Kieran Taylor who took play up into the Leicester half. This gave Kesteven the chance to drive on through their pack with Daniel Turner in the lead. This time the visitors killed the ball and Matt Harland confidently added the points.

The game evened out now with Kesteven seeing a bit more ball. After 30 minutes A good break by Will Cann led to a penalty 40 metres out. Will Cann took the kick himself and was unlucky to see it slip past the post. The 22 drop out went straight to Daniel Turner on half way. He took play up to the 22 where the ball was recycled successfully. Matt Harland cleverly popped a nice pass to Will Bradley who drew the cover to send Alex Ingram clear. The young wing expertly straightened and threw a perfect return pass to Will Bradley who raced over to score under the posts, giving Harland a simple conversion. Mark Sayle (Jnr) came on for Gavin Purvis who had taken a knock in the 35th minute.

Kesteven now had their best spell of the match and caused Forest some problems. The defence became more desperate and they conceded one penalty to many for the referee who despatched their centre to the sin bin for 10 minutes. Olly Wood passed off the back of a ruck and the ball found Martin Carew arcing round in support to force his way through several Forest players for the try. The conversion was spoilt by the easterly breeze but Kesteven had a healthy 15 point lead. The last five minutes of the half saw Forest make light of their man in the bin as they pressed hard to get on the score sheet. The home defence was excellent with one tackle by Ingram standing out to keep the score to 15 - 0 at the break.

The second half proved a test for the home side as the visitors took command of territory and possession. They spent most of the half battening down the hatches as Leicester threw everything at them. The home defence was magnificent with heroic tacklers aplenty. There were a few breaks out of defence with Arron Whitaker prominent, Scott Odams also led one break while the boot of Harry Martin, on at half time for Harland, kept pushing them back. They could not hold out for the entire half and Forest to break away for a good try, well converted from the touchline to narrow the gap to 15 - 7 with 15 minutes left. Phil Jordan came on for Ingram for the last 5 minutes.

The Kesteven defence and discipline was excellent as they withstood a huge onslaught. There was no further scoring as Kesteven held out for a well earned win by 15 -7. Will Bradley was named man of the match but there were many strong performances - Turner gave his usual powerful display with his strong running. Carew is certainly building momentum so far this season, Mark Sayle (Jnr) came on at the break to add a further dimension to the line out while Bradley and Cann in the centre made the most of limited opportunities. Ingram gave a promising display with some great tackles while setting up Bradley's try very well. All in all it was a fine strong display that confirms that Kesteven can comfortably hold their own as a level 7 club.

Photos: Louise Clark