Skegness 1st XV 7 – 18 Cleethorpes 1st XV

     Skegness captain, Machin and vice captain, Hill faced a tough choice in the run up to this crucial away fixture. With a squad of twenty players to choose from, the correct mix of players and position would decide the game. As the game approached, the usual nightmare for the team selectors happened. Within the space of ninety minutes the first team squad of twenty was reduced to thirteen. The unavailability of players through work and other commitments saw numerous positional and player changes.
A bare fifteen travelled up the coast to face a Cleethorpes team who are very strong on their narrow pitch. Skegness had lost the previous two away encounters and hoped to turn this bogey team on their heads.
Captain Machin told his team the game plan and the referee started the game. The immediate impact of hard running, good rucking and strong mauling shocked the Cleethorpes team and they spent a significant amount of time defending their line.
All the Skegness pressure could not break the aggressive Cleethorpes defence. Tactical kicking and quick thinking tested them and Skegness looked to open the scoring.
Two simple errors gifted Cleethorpes the first two tries of the game. The first came from a ruck as indecision from the base and supporting runners gave possession to Cleethorpes. The ball was moved wide quickly for the full back to score in the corner. The second was a wide kick, which was not dealt with effectively and a kind bounce gave the Cleethorpes winger a score.
Skegness found themselves facing a twelve point deficit. The continued aggression in the game caused off the ball incidents and eventually both the teams open side flankers were sin binned.
A penalty in front of the Skegness posts was sloppily conceded and Cleethorpes kicked the three points to take the half time score to 15-0.
The second half saw Skegness, again, dominate territory and possession. The continued pressure again did not reap the rewards. A brief raid by Cleethorpes into the Skegness twenty two allowed them to kick three points to extend their lead.
With twenty minute to play a breakthrough came for the blue and whites. A bundled attempted clearance from the base of a scrum saw the Skegness open side flanker partially redeem himself by scoring a try. The Skegness full back converted and the score was 18-7. Skegness then set up camp in the Cleethorpes half and tried in vain to steal the game from the home side.
There were a number of good line breaks, winning rucks, scrummages against the head, dynamic open play and players bleeding for the team. All this effort amounted to nothing as a disappointed Skegness side left the field.
Next week Skegness travel away to north Hykeham in the cup, let’s hope the captain’s job is made a little easier. He urged all players to train and make themselves available every week to create a team who can play and win together.

Skegness 1st XV
Brown, T.Hill, Horner, Spiers, Porter, Johnson, Cummings, Machin,
Divilly, Haigh, Bignell, A. Hill, Wood, Holliday, Hotchin