Sat 17 Nov: Sidcup 10 - Basingstoke 16

Within 5 minutes Basingstoke were ahead, fly-half Matt Ody's kick was charged down and kicked forward by the Basingstoke winger who scored in the corner, the conversion was missed and the score 0-5. The next 25 minutes saw a tight, stop-start, midfied battle with both teams conceding a number of penalties and there being no change to the score, referee Mr Bourke being kept busy and eventually sin-binning the Basingstoke full-back for a deliberate misdemeanour and our own scrum-half Richard Clarke for persistent offending. The half came to close with Sidcup defending their line but in doing so conceding a penalty infront of the sticks, this allowed the visitors to go in at the break 0-8 to the good.

The second half started with Sidcup having to re-jig their pack. Injuries to hooker Tom England and No8 Mikaele Waqa caused the introductions of Danny Mizen and Mike Elliott, prop Tom Page moved to the middle of the front row and had to assume lineout duties. A good start to the half from the home side saw Sam Carmen stopped yards from the line in the far corner but, with ten minutes gone Sidcup had earnt themselves a kickable penalty from the 22 metre line, Ody stepped up but put his effort just wide. Both teams were by now back to their full quota of players and Sidcup kept up the pace, again this nearly resulted in points but an excellent move from the backs running from deep was stopped on the Basingstoke 5 metre line. The ensuing scrum saw the pressure firmly on the visitors and Sidcup had earnt a penalty. On taking the lineout option another penalty followed and the Basingstoke No4 was to spend ten minutes off, again the linout was taken but this time unsuccessfully and the ball was cleared to the 22. Another lost lineout and Basingstoke had cleared to halfway and the chance had gone.

The game continued with good Sidcup momentum which eventually saw them take advantage of the sin-binning, a nice break from Richard Day saw him feed his centre partner Callum Thomson who broke the Basingstoke try line, the kick was missed but the arrears only 5-8.

A good quarter of an hour remained but from the restart Sidcup were penalised for a high tackle and Basingstoke had the chance to draw ahead again, this they missed so the game was still in the balance until another penalty gave another kicking opportunity which this time was taken, 5-11 Sidcup now needing a converted try.

With the efforts now taking their toll on the players, Basingstoke were playing deep in Sidcup territory and on finding themselves with penalty advantage they threw the ball out for their winger to score wide out and with the clock running down this looked to have put the game to bed with the score now 5-16. The gallant home side however made one last push and full-back Daniel Evans scored after excellent work by substitute Jack Berry, Ody tried yet failed with a drop-kicked conversion to save time but the game was over with the final score being 10-16, a losing bonus point being earnt with the late score.

A game between two sides with very strong defences was as close as most spectators had envisaged with only small things determining winners and losers. Whether it be the lucky early try, the number of penalties we concede that cost us points and territory or the odd missed kick or lineout, it is a fine line but on the whole it was a very good performance from Sidcup against one of the top teams in the league and one that will see us win a lot more games than we lose before the end of the season.

Team: Page, England (Mizen), Carmen, Thomas, Cooper, Nevin, Grayson(c), Waqa (Elliott), Clarke, Ody, Roddis, Day (Berry), Thomson, Cutler, D Evans.