Saturday 30th September 2012 Lincoln 15 Kesteven 29

Saturday 29th September
Midlands Three East North
Lincoln 15 Kesteven 29

Kesteven welcomed back Keiran Taylor and Cam Hudson for this important match away to Lincoln. Any thoughts that the good form shown by Kesteven in recent weeks would lead to an easy game against old rivals Lincoln were soon dispelled.

Lincoln started strongly with their pack getting on top and soon opened the scoring with a penalty. They had further opportunities as Kesteven struggled to get to grips with the referee's interpretation of the game. The visiting backs had few chances to attack but Aaron Whittaker picked up one loose clearance and almost broke through, being stopped just five metres short. Keiran Taylor also came close before K's were dealt a double blow just before the break. Dan Turner was sent to the sin bin after a late tackle and Lincoln took advantage to score a try with the last move of the half. Half time score was 8 - 0.

Ken Lines came off at half time for treatment to a leg injury with Matt Harland stepping in at scrum half. Dan Turner returned after his 10 minutes in the bin with renewed vigour as Kesteven gradually got a grip on the game. The straight running of Hudson and Goodrich, with fine support from Cowley, who was making an impression with some fine runs. The first try eventually came. A wobbly pass out was picked up by Goodrich on his own 10 metre line. He ran straight and true, taking responsibility to crash through for the try. This settled the visitors and they soon added to their score. They were awarded a penalty 20 metres out in front of the posts and with the crowd calling for the kick at goal Parker tapped and ran to keep the pressure on. From a scrum straight after the ball was worked right then switched left for Cam Hudson to show a great turn of speed to score at the posts. Harland converted and there was daylight between the teams. Lincoln were now suffering problems with discipline and Kesteven benefitted with some good possession. This led to a third try which was scored by Goodrich who finsihed off a good move in the backs with a strong run.
Kesteven were on top now and Turner came close to adding a bonus point try. He ran strongly from his own half almost to the line but his pass insde did not go to hand. Lincoln were unable to clear and Flear led a further charge to the line where Odams pounced on the ball to score.
This spurred Lincoln on and they started to move a greater pace and were rewarded with a fine try out wide. The conversion narrowed the gap to 7 points giving the home side a sniff of a remarkable comeback. From the restart however Lincoln fumbled the ball, were penalised and James Cowley reacted quicker than anyone to take a tap andd run 40 metres to score. Harland finished the game with a successful conveersion to bring the final score to Lincoln 15 Kesteven 29. All in all a satisfacory afternoon for Kesteven who once again showed how to deal with adversity and come back to win and remain top of the league.
Team was A Whittaker; K Taylor, C Hudson, J Goodrich J Hughes; M Parker, K Lines; S Odams, A Brown, G Purvis, W Pert, J Cowley, J Flear, D Turner, T Woolerton. Replacements, M Harland, O Hanson, T Webster.