Sutton Stumble against Stourbridge.

Sutton’s third teamed welcomed high flying Stourbridge to Walmley Road for a league game in which they served up a game high on endeavour and entertainment, with the odd humorous moment thrown in, if not a deluge of points.Sutton pushed them all the way only to suffer heartbreak at the end in a 7-10 defeat.
On a dreary but mild afternoon both teams and supporters were plagued by the constant irritation and drawing of blood by mosquito like midges!!
Sutton received first ball and managed to narrowly have the best of the early encounters albeit in their usual haphazard play. Fine probing by Ian Evans and a rather less subtle approach by Lewis Snowdon gained ground in the Stourbridge 22 but the final play all too often game to nought! Sutton’s players all seemed to make ground ball in hand none more so than Gareth Roberts who had to leave the field for a rest after one particularly lung busting 10 metre run.
Gradually Stourbridge got the upper hand through just shading the scrums and the tendency for the home side, as ever, to concede a succession of penalties which would ultimately mean Stourbridge went into half time with a 10 point lead, courtesy of a simply worked try in the corner followed by a fine conversion and a penalty.
Stourbridge maintained the pressure at the start of the second half and pushed Sutton back deep into their 22 without really ever threatening the line. The forwards worked hard to repel the men from the Black Country without really getting their hands on the ball for any length of time. Good work by Dave Sandford, Dom Morpett, Rhoss Price, Tom Harris , Tom Morahan and Lewis Snowdon meant that as time ticked by the men in green gained a tenuous hold in the half helped by the tendency for Stour to concede penalties at the breakdown. After a break led by Price, Harris, Evans, Pete Dale, Mark McEvoy (skipper for the day) and Duckling territory was finally gained and the pressure told as a rash attempt at a pass by the Stourbridge stand off was intercepted n half way by Evans who had the pace to easily outpace the defence to register a well deserved try under the sticks. With the conversion a formality by Dale the score was 10-7 to Stourbridge with a good 15 minutes to go.
With the Stourbridge pack visibly tiring and frequently incurring the wrath of the referee as the penalties stacked up, Sutton could sense a turn up for the books by completing a fine victory over strong opposition. Rollocking runs from Snowdon, Price and Harris tested the Stour defence but the final coup de grace just wouldn’t come.
Five minutes to go McEvoy receives the ball deep in his own half and sets off to the distant try line coming inside to leave the Stourbridge defence floundering in his wake. A split second of indicisiveness and an away team’s winger materialises from nowhere to snuff out the danger. Game over? No,further sets of drives and rucks and the men from Stourbridge concede a penalty 30 metres out and the chance for Sutton to clinch a hard fought draw. Unfortunately the penalty drifted wide and the chance had flittered away in the misty November gloom. A hoof upfield by Stourbridge and the ref blew for no side. Sutton 7-Stourbridge 10.
The positives, a good second half performance full of resilience and determination by all the men in green.With new coach Dean Harper putting in valuable time with the team improvements have been made and will continue especially when more than 10-12 players turn up regularly to Wednesday night training where further specialised coaching coaching can proceed and if those that train play Saturdays it can only be good for the team and the club.
Thanks too, for those that supported the team including Nathan Burchill and Ben Morgan and for their input before the game and at half time.
A hard fought game was played in a good spirit and a firm decisive referee helped in that regard.