Kesteven welcomed Bakewell to Woodnook looking to get back to winning ways. The pitch was passed fit to play after an early morning inspection and stood up well. There was a strong wind blowing down the field.

The home team welcomed back Will Pert to the pack and Will Cann took on the difficult role of Fly Half

Kesteven had first use of the wind but in the early part of the match, Bakewell were very good at retaining possession by keeping the ball in hand. It was 20 minutes before Kesteven were able to get a foothold in the Bakewell half as Danny Turner was able to put in some good kicks from deep. It was however difficult to judge the strength of the wind and some kicks went the full length of the field going out of play over the dead ball line. Robert Sheardown left the field with a knee injury to be replace by Scott Odams.

The Kesteven pack did get play into the visitors 22 and won a penalty after 30 minutes. Will Cann popped over the kick to give K's a 3 - 0 lead. They had a couple more opportunities from penalties but were not able to add to the score in the wind before half time.

Kesteven turned round to face the wind with some trepidation - but were inspired in the second half. Rob Cann replaced Doug Hayward and veteran Graham Smith came on for Will Pert as Coach Mark Sayle freshened things up.

The forwards played the possession game very well and were well supported by the strong running by Goodrich and Templeton. Whittaker from full back was always eager to run and came close to breaking through on several occasions. Bakewell’s frustration grew and it wasn’t long before a member of their back row was shown the yellow card and marched off to the sin bin with ten minutes left. One long kick from Bakewell, deep inside their half, ran dead resulting in a scrum to Kesteven some 40 metres out. The home team won the ball and Will Cann ran the ball out to the left and Whittaker took the pass in the clear with only the full back to beat. It was no contest and the young full back danced around him to score in the corner, thus sealing an important win for Kesteven. They remain near the foot of the table but will gain huge confidence from this win.

There were some fine performances from the Kesteven team. Will Cann settled well into the stand off position and deservedly won man of the match. He was well served by Olly Wood at scrum half. The pack all contributed to the great effort. Woolerton was never far from the ball, leading from the front as stand in skipper in place of the injured Tom Webster. All in all a great win in very difficult playing conditions.

Next week Kesteven are away to league leaders Bellgrave as they continue their quest to climb out of the relegation zone.

Team:
Rob Sheardown, Doug Hayward, James Cowley, Will Pert, Martin Carew, Tony Woolerton (c), Mark Sayle (Jnr), Daniel Turner, Olly Wood, Will Cann, Alex Ingram, Sean Templeton, James Goodrich, Phil Jordan, Aaron Whittaker
Replacements: Scott Odams, Rob Cann, Graham Smith.

Coaches: Mark Sayle & Mally Turner
Statistician: Nikki Turner
Photographer: Louise Clark