White line fever strikes

"We deserved that ! " said Head Coach Jon Arch... "Market Drayton are a far better side than their league position shows but we let them back into - our discipline on the pitch was shocking!"

Playing against the slope and wind in the first half, Aldridge were fortunate to go in at half time only 3 - 0, as it was 4th time lucky for the Market Drayton goal kicker - that said when you are 5 metres from the opposition line with an overlap you should score and Aldridge failed on 3 occasions in the first half as white line fever struck.

Aldridge started the second half with all the pace, power and confidence they have shown at times this season, firstly fly-half Ryan Bowen collected an offload from Josh Reynolds and outpaced the covering defenders to score in the corner (unconverted). Then with Dan McKenna running riot with ball in hand, and Lea Ross marshalling his pack around, soon the ball was fed along the line to winger Josh Hetherington to score the second try (unconverted). At 10 -3 up Aldridge were breaking the gainline on every carry, but again with white line fever kicking in spooned at least 3 more opportunities when it was easier to score than not score. Finally Number 8 Josh Reynolds took things into his own hands and powered through 3 covering defenders to score (unconverted) as Aldridge stretched their lead to 15 - 3 with little over 15 minutes remaining.

Then we switched off... and by conceding an unconverted try at 15-8 down with a minute or so on the clock remaining Market Drayton could sniff the chance of a draw. Aldridge then self-destructed with penalty after penalty conceded, and the time running on and on, and after a final warning by the Referee, the Market Drayton number 8 stole over for a try (which was converted) and a well deserved draw!

Head Coach Jon Arch...
"Market Drayton deserved the draw today, it was a tight game played in amazing spirit and respect, and I sincerely hope they avoid relegation this season. They have improved since we played them earlier in the year, and we simply had a very very off day. I hold my hands up, some of my sideline calls with hindsight were wrong, but our on-field decision making was poor from the 1st minute to the last! In the second half we failed to use the wind at all - we don't point fingers though - we win as a team and we lose as a team!

I feel for the guys as they put an amazing effort in at training this week, and the forwards even asked for an extra line out session before the game. Luke Russell had a very good game today, especially around the ruck area. Again we were forced into making too many changes from last week both in personnel and positional - we need consistency in availability and selection from now till the end of the season for us to reach our goals.

Thank you to the 2nd Team platers and other club spectators who watched and cheered from the sideline, it was appreciated. I think the fact that as one you all applauded the Market Drayton players off as a sign of respect to the effort they put in shows true testament to the values of rugby the club holds dearly !

Next week is the North Midlands Vase Semi-Final against Bham Civil Service RFC and we have to refocus and approach this with the same focus as we had against Aston - the players owe it to themselves to give their all ! ! "