Belper 1st XV 10pts Mellish 1st XV 5pts
Andy Laven scored Belpers only try in this dour
NLD One match.
A strong wind and an increasingly muddy pitch made play difficult but Belper
built a 10 - 0 half - time lead.
Mike French released Laven, who steamed into the line from fullback to go over
for the score which Steve Dymond converted. Dymond also kicked a first half
penalty.
Mellish increased the pressure after the break and scored a try.
Belper 1st XV 10pts Mellish 1st XV 5pts
This was a dour game played in driving rain and
dominated by a strong wind on an increasingly muddy pitch.
Belper played up the slope in the first half, with the wind at their backs and
Jason Cotton playing at scrum half for the first time for the club
Belper got into their stride quicker than the previous week and following a
scrum and second-phase possession from a ruck set up by
Mick Laven, Cotton released his backs.
Steve Dymond quickly fed Mike French who in turn released Andy Laven, coming
into the line from fullback and he cut back inside for an
unopposed try which Dymond converted.
Belper continued to attack and an incisive thrust by the forwards saw Merv Holmes
almost cross the line and then further bursts by the
forwards saw the try line threatened, although sometimes the final pass did
not come quickly enough.
Solid thrusts by Alan Mayes, Mike Phelan and Greg Hopkinson always supported
by the back row, found Belper camped in the visitors'
half for long periods, but they were unable to add to their score until a minute
before the half-time whistle.
The pressure saw Mellish give away a penalty which Dymond kicked to give the
hosts a 10 - 0 interval lead.
In the second half the continuos rain made playing conditions increasingly worse,
while the wind increased in strength in favor of the visitors.
Both teams found the ball difficult to hold onto and handling errors proliferated.
Slowly, Mellish began to exert pressure on the home defence, which held firm
despite a number of decisions that went against them.
Fifteen minutes from the end Mellish kicked ahead from a knock-on by one of
their pack, inside the 22 and were allowed to score a try under the posts.
The by now atrocious conditions were underlined by the fact that they missed
the conversion.
Although Mellish pushed hard for a further score the Belper team spirit saw
them hold out and in the face of some unlikely decisions by the referee,
were jubilant at the final whistle.
Belper 2ndXV 61pts Mellish 2ndXV 0pts
Played on the Mellish ground high above Nottingham on a wet and
windy pitch, Belper were heavily beaten by a bigger set of backs.
The forwards gave a good account of themselves, with prop Darren Butler having
a great game backed up by Steve Tolan, Ian Davidson and man of the match Darren
Hayward.
At least there will be another game next week and they will be raring to make
up for this result!