Kesteven unlucky not to come away with a win

Kesteven made the long trip to Derbyshire for the 2nd time in as many weeks to play the rearranged fixture against Bakewell Mannerians with 17 rather than the usual 18 men. With a number of injuries and people absent, selection had proved tough but K's were still able to field a strong side - full credit to the depth of the young senior side!

Having had some tough encounters over the last few weeks, Kesteven badly needed a win to offer some security in the new league. As captain Tom Webster was in London smoozing his girlfriend all weekend, Rob Sheardown took the helm. From the kick off the desire to win was apparent amongst K's. During the first 10 minutes of the game, Kesteven set up camp in the Bakewell 22m zone and piled on the pressure. Despite a number of strong runs from Martin Carew and Tony Woolerton, Bakewell held their lines well denying both of tries. Tony Woolerton succeeded in getting over the Bakewell try line but the referee deemed the ball to have been held up.

After 7 minutes of play and on another attacking run, Will Cann chipped the ball over the Bakewell line and it was Sam Durrance that was able to win the scramble for the bouncing ball and touch it down for Kesteven's only try of the match. Matt Harland secured the conversion and Kesteven took a 0-7 lead.

Kesteven noticeably sat back on their laurels with the 7 point cushion that had been created and Bakewell capitalised on this by turning up their own heat and pressing the Kesteven side back into their own 22m area. A number of missed tackles and poor defending on the fringes from Kesteven's point of view and an overwhelming attack of strength from Bakewell saw the home side touch down for an unconverted try setting the score to 5-7.

Bakewell's forwards were now firing on all cylinders and giving the Kesteven front row a trying time in the scrums and making some very strong runs that saw Kesteven missing many tackles. With so many Kesteven players getting up off of the ground, the away sides defence was weakened. After the Bakewell onslaught, Dan Turner was penalised for a dump tackle that was deemed dangerous and Bakewell secured the 3 point penalty kick to edge into the lead 8-7.

Kesteven were awarded a penalty after a Bakewell forward joined a ruck from the side and Matt Harland kept his success rate at 100% by securing the 3 points to put Kesteven back in front at 8-10. Dan Turner was forced to retire from the field with a dead leg and Rob Cann came on to make his mark. Just minutes later, the referee (who "officialled" the match brilliantly) grew tired of Kesteven's continued attempts to steal the ball from the floor in rucks and awarded Bakewell a penalty and the 1st half finished at 11-10.

The second half proved to be just as epic as the 1st half with constant exchanges by both sides in their attempts to try and secure a safe lead. Kesteven were penalised on several occasions for further handling attempts in the ruck and were very lucky that the Bakewell kicker was not having the best of days! Scott Odams came on for James Cowley. A flash of hope flooded through the visiting side when the young Kesteven full back, Aaron Whitaker, made a darting run managing to carve through the Bakewell defence and gain some 60-70m before an equally quick Bakewell winger was able to pull him in to touch just feet away from the Bakewell try line denying K's of the much needed win.

Dan Turner returned to the field in the Centres replacing Will Bradley and Kesteven continued to exert and withstand the pressures. Bakewell put in another thunderous attack and on this occasion they were able to touch down for an unconverted try. With just 6 minutes to go, Kesteven knew that to achieve the win objective that they had set and so badly needed, all 15 men would need to knuckle down to a clinical final few minutes. Despite immense efforts from the visiting side, both attacks were spoilt by knock-ons and the very soon Kesteven were out of time and the game ended with a score line of 16-10 and Kesteven having to be grateful with a bonus point.

Despite some valiant efforts throughout the team, the only member of coaching staff present on the day, Mally Turner, deemed Aaron Whitaker to be Man of the Match and Kesteven then set off on the long hike back to the changing rooms.

This week sees Kesteven's 1st XV in action on both Wednesday evening and Saturday afternoon. Spalding come to Woodnook on Wednesday night (7:30pm Kick Off) in the Lincolnshire Cup and then on Saturday the 1st XV take to the road to take on old rivals Dronfield (2.15pm kick off)

Team: Sheardown (c), Hayward, Cowley, Sayle (Jnr), Carew, Durrance, Woolerton, Turner, Wood, Harland, Jordan, W. Cann, Bradley, Price, Whitaker. Replacements: Odams, R. Cann