So Close for Sutton

Déjà vu, probably an accent or two missing but so what! For Stourbridge read Veseyans, Camp Hill , Wolverhampton and Moseley Oak as Sutton slipped and stumbled to another close defeat in the cold and bleak Black Country at the home of Stourbridge RFC.
In a dominant first quarter Sutton took a very rare early lead as a fine backs move led to Callum Heeney touching down, converted by Chris Duckworth, for a 7 point lead. With the Sutton forwards utterly dominant in the set piece the likelihood of a fine victory over high flying Stourbridge was strong but…………. The up to now dormant Stour backs suddenly sprang to life and in the blink of an eye or home centre in this case, the home side was level at 7-7. The next 10 minutes were spent entirely in Stourbridge’s 22 and Sutton really should have been out of sight! After a series of scrums, any one of which could have led to a try, Sutton finally registered a well deserved pack try as Tom Foulsham touched down at No8 for a well earned push over try. Another successful conversion by Duckworth and a 14-7 lead meant Stourbridge were there for the taking. Minutes later Sutton missed the equivalent of an open goal as uncoordinated back play led to a forward pass and a walk in blown. After having virtually no ball Stourbridge ran the ball from everywhere and Sutton were reeling from the onslaught and suddenly the home team went to oranges with a scarcely believable 19-14 lead!
Stourbridge continued where they left off as they started the second half with a bang and another try in the same vein as all the others. A ten point lead meant Sutton had a mountain to climb. 24-14.
Another try followed soon after and the game had gone as Stour stretched out to a 15 point lead. However, to their credit, Sutton responded and stirred themselves with 10 unanswered points through another powerful pack try with Foulsham touching down for his second try. Finally right at the death, youngster Mitchell Barker scored after a surging run to the line. With the ref blowing for no side shortly afterwards Stourbridge had won a game by 29-25 and Sutton had not!!
Until Sutton concentrate for the full 80 minutes the close games will continue to avoid the W at the end of the season’s results.
Praise must go to the two youngsters Barker and Laurie Harries who both had fine games on their senior debuts.