Keyworth IIs overcome battling East Leake side to win 22 – 17

The home side started strongly putting the Keyworth line under pressure from the first whistle and only resolute defence kept them at bay. Having weathered the early storm, Keyworth made a foray into the opposition half and were rewarded with an early penalty from 30 yards out, coolly slotted by young scrum-half, Sam Tilaks.

However, it wasn’t long before East Leake were level with a penalty of their own in front of the visitor’s posts, scored by their captain at outside half. It was he who controlled most of the game in the first half, pinning Keyworth back deep in their own half with accurate touchfinders and angled kicks.

Black and gold players tried valiantly to run the ball back at East Leake on several occasions but such was the frenetic pace of the game that errors were inevitable and there were more turnovers than the local bakers. The only try of the first half came when Jack Pitchfork gathered a loose ball on the opposition 22 and beating a couple of defenders he raced over to score in the corner, much to the joy of his father Andy, watching on the sideline.

With the halftime score at 8 – 3 to the visiting side and with the slope in their favour the plan was to play the game as deep in the East Leake half as possible throughout the second half, despite the injury disruptions to the Keyworth squad of 21 players.

Unfortunately, Keyworth’s positional kicking game was nowhere near as accurate as the home side’s had been and the numerous misdirected kicks resulted in the home team’s strong running back three taking full advantage and putting Keyworth back under pressure, time and time again.

Shuffling players around and almost constant rolling subs caused a few problems but helped to compensate for the often woeful lack of fitness amongst the visiting ranks. The first score of the second half came from Keyworth after good work by JP Disney and Simon Starr forced a turnover at the breakdown on the home side’s 10m line. Some good running and handling then saw Adam Waldron powerfully crash over under
East Leake’s posts. Sam Tilaks added the conversion.

Within 5 minutes Keyworth had extended their lead to 22 – 3 when Tom Muncey outstripped the defence after Mark King had charged down a midfield kick from the home team. Again, Sam Tilaks added the extra points.

The last 15 minutes saw East Leake rally and run in two converted tries to bring some respectability to the scoreline. This was a tightly fought battle which Keyworth fully deserved to win. The outstanding performances definitely came from the young players. Sam Tilaks got the nod as Man of the Match but he was pushed close by all of the try scorers, Tom Muncey, Adam Waldron and Jack Pitchfork.

A first league win for the seconds will give them some confidence going into a run of 7 league matches on the trot against some strong sides which will really test the strength and fitness of the Black and Gold army.