Stoke suffer fourth defeat

North Walsham 34 pts v Basingstoke 10 pts

A huge team effort was not enough to for FX-backed Basingstoke to take their second away win of the season and instead slipped to their fourth defeat. The scoreline of 34-10 does not do justice to the down grange outfit and didn't reflect the pattern of play. Overall it was a very encouraging performance and shows that Basingstoke can compete with the big teams of this league, even away from home. Playing with the wind, but up the slope in the first halve Stoke started much the better team and took the game to North Walsham straight from the kick-off. This early pressure was rewarded with a good penalty from Ian Calder after 8 minutes. Stoke attacked again for the next 15 minutes but could not find the cutting edge that was needed to unlock the Walsham defence. They were punished for this as Walsham first ventured into the Stoke 22 after 28 minutes and scored from a scrum. Basingstoke then scored the try they so deserved as Fraser Jones intercepted and then ran the length of the pitch to score under the posts. Calder converted for a 10-5 lead. Stoke then started to put themselves under pressure as they missed kicks to touch and dropped passes. This lead to a Walsham scrum five metres out and soft defence allowed their centre to score under the posts. A conversion gave Walsham a 12-10 lead going into half-time and one they didn't deserve.

Four minutes into the second half Walsham extended their lead with a further converted try after Stoke had put themselves under pressure and left them having to play catch-up. Calder missed a tough penalty from the half way line to reduce the lead to 1 score before Walsham extended their lead after 19 minutes with a try from a lineout move. Basingstoke resisted further attacks and spent most of the following play in the Walsham 22 until a penalty and converted try in the last few minutes killed of any hopes and gave Walsham a rather flattering 34-10 win. Marcus Reeve justified his man of the match award with a good alround display, with good work in the line-outs from all jumpers meant that the side competed well. The rucking from the forwards was forceful early on and Tom Dean was a constant threat to the opponents. Ian Calder said after "The score did not reflect the team effort and any luck went against us. We need to learn how to collectively unlock defenses such as North Walsham but we can take heart from the game and look forward to a reverse scoreline in the return fixture."

NEXT GAME Saturday 9th November home to Barking,National 3 South. k.o 2:30 pm.
                Sunday 10th November away to Havant Hampshire Cup.

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