Kesteven 3 - Market Rasen 62
Kesteven faced one of the top sides in the league at a wet and windy Woodnook.
K's had the benefit of the strong wind in the first half and kept play in the visitors half. They struggled to win much possession as the Rasen pack dominated the set piece thus limiting the supply of ball to the home backs. Kesteven were limited to penalty goal attempts by Matt Harland. He was successful with one out of three but Rasen were able to strike quickly on their few visits to the Kesteven half. They were rewarded with three tries before half time. One was converted to give them a 17 - 3 lead at the interval.
K's turned to face the wind and soon went further behind. Market Rasen were able to exploit the pace of their three quarters to run in a total of 7 tries to run away with the match by 62 - 3. The score did not reflect the effort put in by the home side who worked hard, particularly through the forwards. Doug Hayward and Andy Peabody tried hard, and Tyrone Miles made an impression when he came on at half time.
In the backs Parker did his best to vary the game and Phil Jordan tackled and tackled - and then did some more. In truth though there were few opportunites to make an impression in the visitors defence.
Team was
! McAllister, D Blackley, P Jordan, R Dolan, R Jordan; M Parker, M Harland; P Shields, P Dolan, R Sheardown, J Kmieciak, N Clarke, A Peabodt, J Korcz, D Hayward Subs T Smith, T Myles.
For info - Boston beat Ashfield 18 - 0 in the other important relegation match
Market Rasen 2nds 12 Kesteven 2nds 10
Kesteven 2s travelled to Market Rasen for an expected close game and that is exactly what they got.
Playing into a strong wind in the first half,Ks scored after 2 minutes when following a kick through both Dingley and Lidstone ,the 18 and 17 yr old half back partnership, chased and Lidstone touched the ball down.
Rasen replied with lots of pressure on the Ks try line and they scored twice. Ks defended very well and kept the turn round score at 12-5.
In the second half with the wind behind them Ks exerted pressure on Rasen for virtually the entire half.Losing Dingley to a dead leg after 10 minutes forced a reshuffle which disrupted some of the attacking play
that Ks were adopting, but following a fine crossfield kick from Cann Will Price on the wing scored which meant 12-10 going into the final 10 minutes.
Ks tried very hard ,but were losing in the rucks and not getting clean ball to the backs,although Rasen did not get out of there half more than twice Ks eventually lost the game 12-10.
For Kesteven, Pearsey at Captain set a good example and led from the front,Dingley and Lidstone showed great invention, Hughes and Cann were very good at securing ball and cover tackling, Burton had some good runs
and Robertson was again strong at Full back.
Overall a good performance against strong opposition Ks fielded 11 players 20yrs of age or less who have all come through the Junior set up, so things are looking good for the future.
Squad
Purvis, Sayle, Paton, Mount, Brown, Smith, Hughes, Pearsey, Cann, Login, Dingley, Lidstone, Burton, Flear, Robertson, A Price, W Price, Featherstone, Berry, Betts
