Kesteven vs. Grimsby (10/03/2018)

Kesteven returned to action following last week’s postponement and welcomed fellow Lincolnshire side Grimsby.

Excellent efforts by Kesteven team was able to clear water off the pitch to allow the game to go ahead.

The heavy pitch made fluent play difficult but the home team started with intent. Early play saw Kesteven on top. A couple of early penalties saw K’s get good field position and after 10 minutes Dan Halliday stepped up to open the scoring with a straight forward penalty. The home team continued to play strongly but the wet ball made handling difficult. There were few opportunities to add to their score. Turner made a strong run up the middle but his pass out to Palin did not go to hand. The pack had good patches with Stedman Sheardown and Purvis looking strong. Pert and Cowley worked hard while the back row of Vincent Armstrong and Webster kept up a good supply of ball.

Half time came with the score still at 3 – 0.

The second half was a repeat of the first. Grimsby settled down to play a containing game repelling all attacks from Kesteven but in truth it was the conditions who were the true winners. Halliday had one chance for a penalty but the ball slipped past the post. K’s had freshened the team up with Tweddle, Hanson and Stokes coming on for Pert, Vincent and Windsor. This gave Grimsby some hope and they were able to get a foothold in the home 22. From a maul they worked the blind side and caught the home defence napping and scored with a straight run to the corner to take the lead with 10 minutes left. In those final 10 minutes there was time for Grimsby to add a penalty and right at the end they K’s had one last chance with a run starting under their own posts but they were not able to complete. It was a disappointing end to a hard match.

Team was: T Price, J Palin, W Brewis, D Turner, R Windsor, D Halliday, K Lines, S Stedman, R Sheardown, G Purvis, W Pert, J Cowley, L Vincent, R Armstrong, T Webster.

Replacements: D Tweddle, O Hanson, J Stokes.