Injury hit Sidcup fall just short

The game started with the early pressure coming solely from the visitors, Sidcup conceding penalties to stem the tide and after a first effort struck the upright Wimbledon's captain Neil Hallett made no mistake with the second, Wimbledon led 3-0.

Sidcup slowly gained a foothold making good breaks through centre Ben Ibrahim and winger Ashton Dean and playing with penalty advantage had a try cancelled out for a forward pass, play being taken back for the penalty, Sidcup kicked to the corner, won their lineout and hooker Steven Duffus bundled over. George Montgomery kicked the extras and on the quarter of an hour Sidcup led 7-3.

Five minutes later a poor 22m drop out from Sidcup allowed the Wimbledon centre to easily collect the ball, the visitors recycled and their winger was put in at the corner, the difficult conversion was made by Hallett and the lead was retaken 10-7.

Twenty five minutes gone and a Wimbledon lineout was deemed unstraight, the ensuing scrum saw Sidcup win a penalty which Montgomery quickly tapped , passed to winger Lee Woollard who went close, the ball then came back inside for Sidcup skipper Steven Evans to cross, the kick missed Sidcup now led 12-10.

On the half hour the Wimbledon right wing cut back infield to score , Hallett again made no mistake and with the remainder of a topsy turvy half remaining pointless where on the whole most attacks seemed to end up in points being scored Wimbledon led 17-12 at the turn around.
The second half started with Sidcup conceding three early penalties in quick succession, captain Evans receiving a talking to from referee Mr Goatcher, Wimbledon's Hallett again being successful with a kickable effort and the lead was increased to 20-12.

A little bit of handbags from both teams caused Mr Goatcher to talk to both captains and resulted in a Sidcup penalty, the kick to the corner option was taken and with the lineout won by Evans, the pack drove over for another Duffus try. Montgomery made a good conversion, the score now 20-19.

Twenty minutes in and Montgomery was just short with a long range penalty and Sidcup were denied a try in the corner by a superb covering tackle from the Wimbledon wing, but going into the last ten the pressure created earned another chance at goal which Montgomery took, Sidcup led 22-20.

A frantic last five minutes followed, Sidcup giving away a silly penalty which Wimbledon kicked for a lineout, however this not being straight a Sidcup scrum was given. Wimbledon won a kickable penalty against the head and a quick tap and go looked sure to give them a score under the posts yet after being adjudged to be holding on Sidcup were given a penalty and a chance to clear.

Montgomery cleared to touch and the lineout was secured, a huge sigh of relief was felt by the Sidcup supporters, however on driving Wimbledon back and only needing to kick deep Sidcup somehow contrived to concede a penalty forty metres out and give the almost faultless Hallett a kick to win the game, this he took and the game was lost 22-23.

The game was there to be won by both sides and maybe just a couple of wrong decisions cost the hosts but a good match was seen by all.

This week Sidcup face the long trek to a Havant side that look to have good home form, hoping that some of the walking wounded maybe back.

Team: Page, Duffus, Carmen, Lowe, Cooper, Eiffert, Driscoll, S Evans(c), Vincent, Montgomery, Dean, Ibrahim (Amura), Hill, Woollard, Hardy; Unused subs Isaacs and Dutton