Sidcup 3's 41 - 19 Beckenham 3's

After a fantastic training session Thursday going into the game with Beckenham currently unbeaten, Sidcup did not seem phased in the slightest and simply determined to upset the Beckenham party.

This proved evident from the Kick off with a huge chase and John Wilde rising like a salmon to take the ball in mid air. What followed for the next ten minutes was an unbelievable phase of intense dominant pressure in the loose, scrum and Lineout with Anton Dennis pin point accuracy throwing in allowing the jumpers to collect the ball with ease leaving Beckenham astounded at the explosive start from the Sidcup.

Ten minutes in, another scrum to Sidcup and Harry Wilford disappeared to the touchline to squash half a tub of Vaseline up his nose to counteract the heavy bleeding he had just received in the middle of a ruck before returning to the pitch. Another dominant scrum provided a platform for James Thomas to spin the ball out with Alex Barwick running a hard line crashing through and stepping the Fullback to go in for the try, Dan Leighton stepped up to convert 7:0 This was not the start Beckenham had expected.

With blood running from Harry Wilfords nose faster than Usain Bolt, he made way for Colin "I've got 210 caps for the 1xv" Cooper till the bleeding was under control.

Twenty five minutes in and all the pressure was on Beckenham, however the sins of the previous week at Dartfordians started to creep back in, with Sidcup conceding silly penalties at the ruck. A few missed tackles and unforced handling errors inspired the pacey Beckenham winger to skip past four Sidcup players and run half the pitch to go under the posts, Beckenham converted 7:7. Whilst discussing the lapse in concentration and the need to refocus Rashid Aka Mo clearly frustrated with what his opposite number had just done decided to vent his frustration on the post protector. What did that post ever do to you Rashid?

Immediately from the Kick off a relentless Sidcup bashed there way up the pitch with huge carries from George Osborne, Captain George Woods and Joel Leighton. Alex Barwick again hitting another hard line crashing over for another score only to be disallowed for crossing with Joel. With Joel visibly annoyed at himself, just a couple minutes later manages to scoop up a loose ball at the halfway line and dance his way through the Beckenham back line to run in wide for the try, Dan Leighton steps up to convert 14:7.

With Half time fastly approaching Captain George Woods breaks the tackle and carries strong to the Beckenham 22 finding himself in unfamiliar territory he then ever so delicately offloads out of contact to Harry Wilford who crashes through for another Sidcup try however Dan Leighton misses under the posts. It appears Dan is only capable of slotting difficult kicks out wide as per his kicking at Dartfordians the previous week, 19:7 and the referee blows for Half time.

With the second half about to get under way, John Wilde and George Osborne made way for Joe Custy and Colin "I've got 210 caps for the 1xv" Cooper. Much like Sidcup finished the first half they began the Second with Joel Leighton dotting down again after breaking three tackles and stepping three players, Dan Leighton was again on hand to convert 26:7

From the restart Beckenham looked to kick for territory just to try pin the Sidcup players in there own half and relieve themselves of the intense pressure they could simply not sustain from Sidcup. This wasn't to be the case as Dan Leighton politely returned the favour pinning Beckenham back in their own half and with a flurry of immense tackling Sidcup drove Beckenham back to there own tryline and managed to turn the ball over. Joe Custy screaming for the ball with a four man over lap outside him surely Sidcup would be going over for another try... well that would have been to easy, instead the ball was taking into contact and fortunately for Beckenham spilt forward a couple phases later.

Soon after Sidcup again found themselves back at the Beckenham tryline driving the scrum over the tryline but somehow Colin "I've got 210 caps for the 1xv" Cooper failed to get the score, fortunately he made up for this by dotting down only minutes later in exactly the same scenario from the back of the scrum, Dan Leighton misses the kick 31:7 to Sidcup.

With the scoreline growing so did Sidcup's persistence as well as Beckenham's frustration and finally after continous infringements at the ruck the referee decided to give Beckenham's Inside Center a ten minute rest. He may have rested his body but certainly didn't rest his mouth moaning and whinging that Sidcup had fielded a team of 2xv players, even after being informed the 1xv and 2xv were playing in away fixtures.

Another dominant scrum set up the platform for the Sidcup back line to execute some silky hands and Rashid skipped past his opposite man and channelled his inner aggression to score out wide, Dan misses another kick 36:7 and James Fairbrass steps on in place of Andy Hind who had turnt his opposite man inside out for 60 minutes.

With Beckenham not willing to lay down and roll over they managed to break tackles and within a couple of phases go in for a try, conversion good, 36:14.

With fifteen minutes to go I took to the field to replace Dan Leighton at Flyhalf who pulled up with a groin strain. I probably should have stayed on the sideline after dropping two passes and missing two tackles. Thankfully Joel Leighton's talent over shadowed my incompetence with him breaking the line yet again and breaking the Beckenham hearts as he skipped past them to score again. However, this wasn't to be the end of my antics as I forgot the role of 10 to kick the conversion 41:14 whoops.

With Beckenham's offence gaining momentum Tommy Crisp showed complete disregard for his own physical wellbeing (as usual) stepping up and hitting everything in front of him with every bit of physical strength he possessed, after melting the Beckenham 20 into the turf for a second time, unsurprisingly Beckenham stopped running anywhere near him.

With just two minutes to go the Beckenham Fullback put a deep kick down to young Max Drysdale which bounced awfully straight up for the Beckenham chaser who darted in for the line, conversion missed 41:19.

This was to be the end of the game with Beckenham looking defeated and completely dismantled at hands of the Mighty Sidcup 3xv. Full Time 41:19, an explosive and passionate performance which has set the Mighty 3xv back to winning ways!

By Tom Dunster