Mellish 48 - Kesteven 10
Kesteven set off for Mellish for their first game of 2011 showing a number of changes. Hallam O'Brien came in for his first start of the season whl Brett Login and Jordan Hughes forming the back row.
It was a cold sunny afternoon with a strong crossfield wind as Mellish kicked off. Mellish had the better f the opening exchanges and were soon ahead. Their nippy flyhalf found an inside channel cutting back to create the opening try. They followed up with a second shortly after to take a 10 - 0 lead.
Kesteven had some good play and Danny Turner came close to scoring with a good break but he was hauled down just short. Mellish broke away again and added a third try which was converted for a 17 - 0 lead. K's did have one more chance before the break when O'Brien kicked through and was late tackled.
K's turned round with hopes of overturning the deficit. They raised the pace of their game and took play to Mellish but were unable to score. Mellish however broke away again to score another converted try.
K's kept pressing and were at last rewarded when a hurried clearance from the home defence was picked up by Cooper who shot over for the try. This should have been the spur for a Kesteven comeback but again defensive frailties led them to concede a penalty try. Kesteven now realised they had nothing to lose and were playing the game at pace. Odams took a tap penalty to himself to score before Mellish took advantage of this looseness to run in 3 more tries and finish convincing winners.
Kesteven
A Whittaker; P Jordan, N Turner, R Cooper, H O'Brien; D Turner, O Wood; S Odams, D Hayward, P Bennett, W Pert, J Cowley, J Hughes, B Login, M Coghill Reps M Sayle, M Paton, I Charles
