Keyworth 1st XV 9 - 8 Long Eaton 1st XV

Saturday saw the visit of unbeaten league leaders Long Eaton to Keyworth, a game they needed to win to keep the pressure on Horncastle for the race to the 2nd promotion place from the league.
From the kick off both teams knew it was going to be a hard tough game with a strong defence being the key to victory. Both sides lacked a little fluidity in the early exchanges with several dropped balls and missed passes in the damp and muddy conditions, meaning that the set piece was going to be vital to both teams. With normal number 4 jumper Kev Parker missing due to work commitments young Nick Martin again stepped into his shoes and both he and Richard Johnson at 2 won several of the Long Eaton line outs keeping them on the back foot. However Keyworth battling both the slope and the wind failed to make this pay off and squandered several good attacking chances.
Long Eaton started to use the slope to their advantage particularly in the scrum where their far superior weight advantage started to push Keyworth backwards, but Keyworth to their credit battled hard in defence and in the main kept the Long Eaton attacks to very little. Long Eaton continued to batter the Keyworth defence for long periods using their pack put the defence stood tall. Long Eaton did manage to gain the upper hand for a while and during this period got down to Keyworths 22. After a minor infringement the ref awarded a penalty to Long Eaton which was missed by their fly half. Keyworth successfully cleared their lines from the resulting 22 drop out however it wasn’t long before Long Eaton were back down attacking the Keyworth line again this time going over near the corner for a try. Convertion missed 0-5.
Keyworth regrouped well and started using their smaller but quicker pack to stretch the opposition heavies and it wasn’t long before they were on the scoreboard thanks to the boot of Fly Half Simon Richards when the referee awarded a penalty for infringing on a ruck. 3-5.
The game continued in the same vain for long periods with both packs trying to dominate using their advantages over each other and most of the last 15 minutes of the 1st half was played down the middle of the pitch. Neither side really gave away much ground, however with about 5 minutes left before half time Keyworth again gave away a penalty just outside the 22 but straight infront of the posts. This time the fly half didn’t miss leaving the half time score at 3-8
The 2nd half continued the same pattern of the 1st with both teams trying to dominate upfront, but neither wanting to give an inch. After 10 minutes Keyworth Captain Stuart Clark decided to make all 3 substitutions and bring on some fresh legs in the hope this may help. Rob Severn, Adam Waldron and Phil Dennitt all left the pitch to be replaced by Ben Morrell, Tom Bradshaw and Jason Whelbourne. This tactic appeared to work as now the home side newly galvanised and slightly reshuffled started to dominate more but to their credit Long Eaton refused to lie down which led to frustration to several of the home sides attacks.
30 minutes had passed and it was clear that Keyworth had the upper hand and after another Long Eaton infringement at the ruck Simon Richards again stepped up to slot the resulting penalty. 6-8
The wind was well and truly back in the Keyworth sails as they launched wave after wave of attack on the now tiring away side and it was with 4 minutes to go that they again showed their indiscipline to give away yet another penalty 35 meters out. You could hear a pin drop as Simon Richards stepped up to take the kick and watched it sail majestically through the centre of the posts. 9-8

Keyworth then for the last 3 minutes had to throw everything into their defence as Long Eaton tried to keep their unbeaten record intact but to no avail as Keyworth held firm and saw out the final few minutes.
The whole Keyworth 18 should be proud of the game that they played as Long Eaton clearly came with the one tactic, bully and stomp but even with 5 players under 20 they refused to lie down and be beaten.
Well done boys