Leamington suffer agonising defeat at Droitwich

LEAMINGTON18

Recent fixtures between these two side have always been close encounters and this Midlands Two West South clash was no exception.

Spa went behind to a penalty goal in the tenth minute but soon redeemed themselves with a well-engineered try.

Alex Sharman was the instigator, picking the ball up from the base of the scrum and charging through the home defence before slipping the ball to Patrick Northover to touch down. Northover added the conversion to make it 7-3.

Droitwich tried to hit back from the restart and full-back Simon Dudley had to put in a head-on, try-saving tackle to prevent an instant reply.

Northover increased Spa’s lead with a penalty, while Johnny Holland latched on to his own chip ahead to create another opening in a positive spell for the visitors.

It was only in the latter few minutes of the half that Droitwich came to life but Spa’s solid defending ensured no further incursions.

Encouraged by their positive conclusion to the first period, Droitwich returned to the attack after the break.

Spa conceded quick penalties and from a scrum, the home side forced their way over for an unconverted try to close the deficit to two points.

A clever run from Holland and good play from Northover put pressure on Droitwich, which led to the award of a penalty which the scrum-half gratefully slotted over.

Both sides were finding space to attack, but it was the home side that began to impose themselves on the game, forcing Spa to concede two penalties which were both converted to put Droitwich 14-13 up.

Spa regained the lead when a burst of pace from Alex Carroll opened up a gap in the home defence. Carroll then sent the crispest of passes to Dudley in support, with the full-back racing over to give Spa a four-point lead. Northover was inches wide with the conversion attempt, which would later prove costly.

Droitwich still had the energy to hit back and, although they spurned a couple of penalty kicks, their pressure brought an unconverted try and the narrowest of victories, with Spa having to be content with a losing bonus point.