Thirds Lose to Aldwinians 21- 0

Despite dominating possession and territory, the failure to take their chances cost the thirds more points yet again. It’s a tired old cliché but this was a game that they should and could have won. Maybe two games in five days were too much as collectively the team seemed to run out of steam in the final ten minutes. However the forwards were outstanding. They dominated upfront. Bearman, Fussell, and Man of the Match Stevie Gyte squeezed and tormented their opposite numbers ruthlessly all afternoon, while Dilworth and Barber provided the power as the pack drove Aldwinians back at almost every scrum. In the loose Buxton’s rucking, was much improved. Allen, Weston and Charles were excellent at the breakdown and tackled effectively around the fringes. They were well supported by the front five, with Dilworth and Gyte covering a lot of ground. Early on Charles drove into the opposition twenty-two, laid the ball back, Preece found the formidable presence of Allen lurking outside him. Allen with their diminutive scrum half to beat unselflessly passed to Barber who ran into traffic and the move broke down.

Two of Aldwinians tries came from Buxton errors whilst one was an excellent score involving their backs that the defence could do little about. Their final try came as Buxton tried to run the ball out of their own twenty two. Stratford had the vision to see a gap as the Aldwinians defence drifted and he called for an inside ball from Poole. Had he taken the pass and had the strength to run the eighty metres to the try line, it would have been a champagne moment. Sadly he fumbled the pass and the opposition pounced to run in a score. More sour beer than bubbly!

A move that began with a series of rucks continued with Wayne Preece and Dan Gyte making half breaks before releasing the increasingly impressive Dawson on the wing. He rounded his marker and broke through three further tackles, making twenty yards. He was just deemed to have put a foot in touch with the line beckoning. Defensively the organisation was good. Stratford again marshalling things effectively with Richie putting in some telling hits.

Poole probed the touchline effectively for most of the afternoon, and had an eye for the break, but despite a lot of effort the backs were unable to break through the first line of defence sufficiently often or find away to deal with the drift defence.

Another frustrating afternoon! One day it will all click into place and someone will be on the end of a hiding from this third team. Lets hope it’s soon.

Buxton were: Bearman, Fussell, S Gyte, Dilworth, Barber, Allen, Weston, Charles, P Preece, Poole, Richie, D Gyte, W Preece, Dawson, Stratford

Man of the Match - Stevie Gyte
Twat of the Day - Mike Barber (Captain my Captain)

Its been 240 minutes since we last scored a try!! Come to think of it, since we last scored any points at all!!