Fleet take the spoils

King George playing fields was the picturesque setting as pitches at home were under water.The early minutes witnessed both teams prepared to take the ball forward, No. 8 Smith was making territorial gains supported by the sniping Atkin. Sadly,at this very early juncture the returning prop Watson (Asa) experienced a nasty clash to his jaw in the tackle resulting in him leaving the pitch with what was later identified to be broken. With Fleet dominating the scrum and lineout surely a big score was on the cards? Not so, Della were resolute in defence despite the Green and Golds having an extra man they were not making this count. Scrum half Kirton joined the injury list after falling heavily on his shoulder, flanker Atkin took the 9 shirt. With Fleet opting to pick and go via theforwards- the front five made plenty of hard muddy yards, eventually Smith found a way over the whitewash, to make it 5-0. The possession was now being used to maximum effect, Maddern burst down his wing from inside his half swatting tacklers away easily scoring out wide to make it 10-0. Both Holme and Holden were cleaning up in the line, Fleet were functioning well and driving forward at will. At the next move the ball passed through the backs, Maddern was again on hand to show he had the pace to score another try, with Jackson adding the extras, 17-0 and half time.

Della were not prepared to readily accept defeat, indeed they were mounting attacks whenever they had possession so Fleet had plenty of defending to do.Soon after the home side were back on the attack, stand in fly half Stelfox fed the impressive Kerr who beat his man before a neat offload to his centre partner Fuller who crashed the ball at pace on a beautiful angle to score his try, Jackson adding the extras to make it 24-0. The game prematurely ended by the arrival of the bright yellow North West Air ambulance landing on the field to give Asa some medical attention, plus with the light fading and players becoming cold the respective manager/captains in consultation with the referee agreed to call time on the game.Overall, it was fair to reflect that the Fleet forwards bossed the game, with a number coming up with decent performances, namely Holden, Holme, and the other Watson (Tom).The backs put one or two good moves together with the centre pairing of Kerr and Fuller working well, whilst winger Maddern showed his versatility by scoring a brace, full-back Jardine regularly broke the gain line with plenty of pace on show. However, for his general aggressive style with ball in hand hooker Jackson was nominated as man of the match.

Next week Wigan are the visitors to Melbourne Avenue. All of the second team personnel are wishing Asa a speedy recovery from his nasty injury.

Report by Dan Jefferson