Away Day Blues Strike Again!

And after 5 minutes the first points of the day came courtesy of burly prop Jackson, a neat catch and drive from a lineout allowed Fleet to score the try. The general theme for the day was steadily being set, it was penalty after penalty conceded the majority coming from the break down. All the good work of driving forward was consequently being undone, leading to frustration for the visitors. This played into the hands of the red and whites who duly bagged two tries with conversions themselves, going 14-5 ahead. The scrummage was going well but unfortunately the lineout play from Fleet was below par so possession was being surrendered at regular intervals. Despite this Fleet tackled well and attacked when the opportunity arose, youngster Kirton was linking well with his half back partner Lomax. The half time whistle allowed Manager Jefferson to give his players some encouragement which included the need to go back to basics and not panic.

Within minutes flanker Heer made an excellent break shrugging off would be tacklers as he heading for the line. At the next scrum a good shove from the Fleet forwards allowed Smith to display great footwork and touch down with Jackson adding the extras, 14-12 down still. Instead of building on this Fleet took too many wrong options and allowed Aldwinians back in to score a try to make it 19-12. Fleet then took a penalty to make it 19-15 which should have heralded a stronger foothold in the game, however the game swung firmly in favour of the hosts who threw everything at their Gold coast opponents wrapping the game up with three well worked tries, final score 38-15.

This certainly was a tough day at the office and bodies will be bruised from the encounter, and selecting a man of the match is difficult. However, for his tackling and all round industry the accolade goes to second row nautical boy Watson.

Next week Fleet are again on the road, this time to Littleborough.

Report by Dan Jefferson