MAY & BAKER R.U.F.C

JOHN ADLER TROPHY – 10th November 07 Witham 27 .v. 27 May & Baker*

*Witham won 32 – 27 after golden score extra time.

May & Baker’s cup visit did not go to plan last Saturday. Things started badly when three hey players got lost on route. After arriving the next piece of bad news was received, there was to be no qualified referee so one of the M & B supporters offered to Referee the contest.

Witham were three leagues below May & Baker and were struggling near the bottom of the table. The game went to plan as within 5 minutes Hooker Darren Robinson made a superb run through the Witham midfield and after chasing his own kick found himself with acres of space and only one defender to beat. Robinson unselfishly put a world class cross field kick in that full back Huw Protheroe gathered on his return from injury to score a great opening try.

May & Baker could have ‘put the pedal to the floor’ and ran riot. Instead they let Witham back in as sloppy missed tackles on Witham’s big number 8 resulted in the hosts hitting straight back.

May & Baker then woke up again and took the ball threw the forwards Keith Friend made a great break away and the big lock put a delicate pass into second row partner Rob Patten, who was stopped just before the line but managed to pass whilst falling to the floor to give young prop Harry Lisbon his first score for the club. (He has promised us a jug next week!) Lisbon finished off great May & Baker forwards serge.

May & Baker were in the same situation again they could now run riot of crack. Once again M & B cracked as Witham hit back again to score a sloppy try. As the half time whistle sounded the scores were level.

M & B were there own worst enemy in the first half and this trend continued in the second half. May & Baker were again first to score as Andy Yarrow made the first hit and presented quick, clean ball for the backs to show their class as some great hands saw Ross Williams make the break that Rob Patten finished in style. For a try that showed great class.

Again though sloppy defending invited Witham to score again. Yet again May & Baker scored as solid ball from the scrum confused the Witham defence when a huge dummy run from Huw Protheroe opened the door for Mickey Engwell to show a good turn of pace and score. Engwell converted his own score to give M & B a 7 point lead. Confidence was flowing now and Baker’s new one score would kill the game off, but again Witham fought back and the next score was theirs as missed tackling allowed Witham’s big runners to finish off another score. Engwell took it upon himself to score a solo try to give M & B the lead back for the fifth time. But for the fifth time Witham struck back and crucially kicked the conversion to again tie the game.

With only a few minutes left M & B pushed for the win Andy Yarrow went for the line and was stopped before retuning Welshman Huw Protheroe thought he had won May & Baker the game, but as the Witham heads dropped the stand-in referee disallowed the try.

This hurt M & B and as the game moved into Golden Score Extra Time and when people were missing and Chris Young was injured and forced to be carried off the pitch! OUR GET BACK SOON WISHES ARE WITH CHRIS!!! With the argument that poor light was affecting the game, the referee agreed the next play was to be the last and with May & Baker down to only 14 men a simple overlap awarded Witham's number 12 the golden score.

This loss shook May & Baker who had points to prove but in some instances failed. Baker’s were their own worse enemy, every time they got ahead they lacked the killer instinct to go further ahead and kill Witham off before their confidence returned. The kicking game would have worked if we had kicked with more sense towards the corners rather than down the full backs throat!!! Everyone’s head was down, but I encourage you all to come training, learn a little more, and turn the heartache in to passion & belief ready for our table topping league rivals Braintree. A big thank to all supporters who travelled away and stayed out late just to make more noise for the Baker boys!!! Hope to see you at Home next week!

MAN OF THE MATCH: Keith Friend

SQUAD: Harry Lisbon, Darren Robinson, Dick Williams, Keith Friend, Rob Patten, Danny Green, Tommy Capper, Andy Yarrow, Martin Lee, Josh Procter, Dean Mason, Mickey Engwell, Chris Young, Ross Williams, Huw Protheroe, Paul Day, Colin Comben, and Ryan Bone.