Castle Donington make Keyworth rue squandered chances in 17-10 loss.

Keyworth were left to consider how they failed to score on at least 3 occasions in the first half when they had a wealth of pressure and possession. Right from the kick-off, Keyworth pressed and threatened the Donington line, with only last ditch defence keeping the home team at bay. However, they were only able to record one score during the first 40 minutes, a well worked backs move putting JP Disney in at the corner after 30 minutes.
But the real story was the number of times that Keyworth took the wrong option with the line at their mercy. Overlaps were ignored with appalling regularity, as players tried to do it all themselves. It was the lack of a large lead that cost Keyworth dear as Donington changed their tactics in the second half, using their large forwards to drive and maul their way upfield, scoring 3 tries to take a 17-5 lead.
Keyworth rallied in the last 10 minutes and in the last move of the game, a searing break from Jason Holland, saw him break the Donington defence and race 35 metres to score. What followed was totally unnecessary and unseemly and resulted in a Donington player rightly receiving his marching orders.
So Keyworth 2nds lost their second game of the season, very disappointingly. Ironically, had the 1st XV match between the clubs gone ahead, it’s highly likely that the result would have been different. Castle Donington 2s had arrived at Keyworth with only 14 men, but when their 1st XV captain was not happy to play their game due to the overnight frost and potentially dangerous pitch, the 2nd XV found themselves in possession of a full squad and substitutes.
Both 2nd XV captains and referee were happy to play the fixture on the second team pitch at Widmerpool, but when the first team pitch became available, the second stringers moved to where first-teamers feared to tread! The fact that both teams then supplemented their squads with first team players seemed to make a mockery of the decision not to play the first team game. The pitch played perfectly and there was not one incidence of a player needing treatment for injury due to ground conditions.
Keyworth gave debuts to two players. Neil Muter started at loose head prop and did a sterling job in anchoring the scrummage in the first half, before taking a well-earned rest. Young Sam Tilaks, one of a crop of last year’s U17s came on a sub on the wing and perfomed very well, taking every opportunity to run at the opposition. For several regulars it was their first game since November and it will clearly take them time to regain the supreme athletic conditioning for which they are renowned.
Phil Bennett, played out of position in the centre and stuck superbly to the game plan, driving the ball forward and making a great job of containing Donington’s strong running centre. Matt Pyne was unlucky to be denied a try when he appeared to use his allowable one placement of the ball after the tackle, to put it over the line, but unfortunately, the referee saw it differently. Jack Starr showed up well in the loose early on before withdrawing after 20 minutes in order to protect a pair of dodgy knees, loosely contained within legs sponsored by Swan Vesta.
It was also great for the Keyworth faithful to see the return of Dave ‘Tich’ Shields in a cameo performance of around 25 minutes and to see that he’s lost none of his passing skills, but plenty of his follicles. The evergreen Wayne Jowett led the team superbly on the day he celebrated his 52nd birthday and he did a great job at the scummage in the first half. After the break, it was much tougher going up front and Donington deserved their narrow victory, the margin of which might have been even closer if it hadn’t been left to skipper Starr to try and slot the conversion of Keyworth’s second try. From in front of the posts, he could only manage to graze the outside of the right hand upright in a sorry display of the art of goalkicking. What a plonker!