2006/07 Match Reports

Better than Steve McQueen

Didcot 9 – 5 Maidenhead III

Saturday 14th April 2007

“If Didcot had ridden that bike, it would have sailed clear over the barbed wire”, shouted some guy from the touchline.

Two weeks ago, Didcot were propping up the league table with three wins all season. The two final games were against a side they’d never bettered and against a side fourth in the table.

The performance a fortnight ago against Aldermaston, and the win it brought with it, had obviously boosted morale and appetite. Both Tuesday and Thursday evening last week saw near record attendance, partly fuelled by the desire to view the new off-season apparel. Twenty minutes to three saw a full Didcot side, probably the best squad of the season, including five subs, emerged from the changing rooms.

Didcot played kicked off into a slight breeze and straight away set about a solid performance. Good solid scrummaging saw plentiful supply of ball to the backs. Greg, coming in at outside half and captain, ran the backline through almost a full repertoire of set moves. On most occasions the initial tackle was broken by both centres, but Didcot were unable to find the killer pass either to the wings or to the full-back, who occasionally wasn’t even there !

Half an hour in to the game Maidenhead, who had been expecting an easier ride, woke up and began to exert some pressure through the set pieces and were unlucky not to convert a couple of exciting counter-attacks.

Matt held his nerve to nail two close, but awkward penalties, John Madley was held up over the line after another greedy burst through from forty yards out. To be fair the try-saving tackle was an excellent effort and was the last action of the game from the Maidenhead player concerned. Half time – Didcot 6-0 up.

The second half started more evenly than the first had done, Maidenhead were more aggressive in the scrum and tight play, however they kicked a bit too much ball away. Didcot managed to get themselves back on par in the pack and the lineout functioned well. Unfortunately as a team, they came off the boil and Maidenhead enjoyed ten minutes of slowly building pressure and finally they managed a score from their right winger. 6-5

Surprisingly Didcot opted out of a penalty kick in the Maidenhead 22 not long after and span the ball out, to no avail. Fortunately the referee awarded another penalty a minute later, slightly nearer the posts and Didcot’s captain ensured that the correct decision was taken – for the posts - and Matt kicked a further three points. 9-5

The remainder of the game saw Maidenhead trying to find a score, thankfully their kickers weren’t having the best of days, and Didcot worked hard to keep their composure in defence.

On a hot day, temperatures were occasionally boiling over, particularly after a clear stamp on Steve Grant which went unnoticed by the referee.

After having run the ball all day, Greg finally decided to clear his lines with a raking downfield kick. In theory anyway – we’ll get him working on that over the summer.

And finally, to shrieks of disbelief from the good-sized and good-humoured crowd, Matt kicked the ball behind him into touch, knowing the final whistle would blow.

A 9-5 win against a fourth placed team; the double win over Maidenhead no less; two back to back wins and moving above Slough in the league – not a bad end to the season.

Special mention to John Stephens at blindside flanker – where have they been keeping this boy all season?

Man of the Match                     Paul Parlett – stormer !!

Mare of the Match                    Gavin (one of those days unfortunately, but we’re sure he’ll bounce back)

Mike Patterson

back to fixtures 2006/07

Five Props and a Wanderer

Aldermaston 7 – 12 Didcot

Saturday 31st March 2007

“The mother-in-law’s flight lands at 12.15, so she’ll be through customs by one o’clock, I’ll drive her home and be back at Aldermaston before kick-off” said Greg, the project manager, quite confidently. Which airport? “Some place called Heathrow – it’s not far away on the map.” - Last seen still driving round Berkshire on Sunday morning.

In three previous attempts, Didcot had not managed to better Aldermaston, including a comprehensive beating earlier this season. However, there was a significant amount of optimism leading up to this basement battle, mainly due to the fact that this was to be the strongest squad available all season.

In the run-up to the weekend there were the obligatory dramas – a car crash, a house move in Bournemouth, a Saturday shift and a missing soldier, but by five to three there was a team and four subs, of which three were props !!

Facing a very strong wind in the first half, Didcot started, for once, fairly well. Decent ball retention, strong running from the pack, including some good inside lines by James - our new flanker - and Ross (recovering on the wing) as well as solid scrummaging provided a feeling of optimism.

Good distribution from John S, strong running – although not necessarily straight – by Carl and Gavin.

Aldermaston used the wind fairly well to try and pin Didcot back, but this allowed Didcot’s quicker back three to launch some attractive counter attacks.

Half-way through the half, there was one counter attack too many and a couple of errors provided Aldermaston with a run-in from the Didcot 22. 7-0

Aldermaston picked up their game slightly after this try and they began to cause some disruption to Didcot’s scrum, which was readjusting following the loss of Didcot’s evergreen skipper Dave. We’d told him to walk to the breakdowns!!

Ironically, the increased confidence of the home team resulted in them running more ball through the backs. As Aldermaston had lost their impact centre in creating their try and as their major attacking threat was at full-back, this was an odd decision and resulted in some turn-over ball and some strong and direct Didcot running from both forwards and backs.

The Aldermaston supporters wanted at least another score before half-time. This didn’t materialise and they turned round into the wind with a slender lead.

Didcot lost their quick new flanker to an ankle injury, while halting a promising Aldermaston attack, on the stroke of half-time, which allowed Sam to make his open-side debut. This surely couldn’t be the same Lacy – sprinting across to the breakdown, hunting down tackles, encouraging his team-mates, concentrating on his throw-ins?? - A flurry of punches late on did, though, confirm his identity.

With the wind behind them in the second half, Didcot felt quite comfortable and, rather than use the wind to pin the home team back, tried to run the ball as much as possible – much to the enjoyment and excitement of the supporters and to the annoyance of their coaching staff.

Nevertheless, after a short while, Ross thought he’d seen a gap from out on the right wing, way over on the left. Running across fourteen of his own supporting runners and through half-a-dozen of the opposition, there was no gap…so he rounded the winger and full-back and scored under the posts. 7-5

Matt duly obliged with the extras (7-7) and we were set for some tension…

When Barry came off injured for Richie, Didcot had used all five props. Who says front row are hard to find these days?

When Pinns carved a line into the Aldermaston 22 with Steve and Mark outside, the score was surely on…a miss pass to Mark, was to Steve’s absolute disgust, especially when Mark was already in touch by the time he got the ball.

A period of sustained ball retention on Aldermaston’s line saw Steve ground the ball on the line, only for it to be called short by the referee. Over again and held up…a tap tackle…a stumble until finally the circus ended and Mike drove Wadey over to make it 7-12.

Just in case there wasn’t enough atmosphere, John M had been developing quite a relationship with the referee and wanted to have a third quick conversation, so with twenty minutes to play he got ten minutes on the touchline.

Similarly Steve had had enough with seven minutes left, so he asked for a yellow card and duly received one. 

Both sides were unlucky with a couple of forward passes, and both sides should probably be higher up the table. Overall, Didcot were stronger in more areas of the game and deserved their win – just.

Man of the Match                     Ross Beech
Mare of the Match                    Mark Roberts (tripped by a blade of grass, five yards from the line)

Mike Patterson

back to fixtures 2006/07