Bracknell III 18 v Maidenhead 3rds 17
Saturday 3rd February 2007

Having knocked Farnham off the top of the league last week Maidenhead were faced with the same task last Saturday. This time it was Bracknell, but it wasn’t the same story. This time it was a story of missed opportunities, dropped passes, forward passes, tries disallowed, and knock-ons, all after really good moves by the backs. Very frustrating for every Maidenhead player on the pitch as well as for those of us on the touchline. Maidenhead should have been out of sight by half-time. Should have been, could have been, ought to have been.

For the first 10 minutes or so it looked like Maidenhead were in for a torrid afternoon with Bracknell going straight from the kick-off into their opponents 22 and staying there with a series well-drilled rolling mauls, pick and drives and line-outs. But the lessons of the previous week seemed have been learned and the defence held until gradually Maidenhead worked the ball down field and applied a bit of pressure of their own. This forced a really poor kick from Bracknell which fell straight into hands of Lester Martin who disappeared down the touchline in a cloud of mud and dust. Five nil to Maidenhead but much against the run of play.

A penalty for Bracknell straight in front of the post brought the score back to 5 – 3 but now Maidenhead were starting to get on top, and a lovely backs move should have produced a try out on the left but the last pass went astray, then a chip ahead by John Sudbury nearly produced another touchdown. Then another good backs move but with the line wide open the pass went down. Then a try for Maidenhead which was judged to have been over the dead-ball line. Another developing backs move but the pass went forward. Maids could live to regret these missed opportunities!

That regret wasn’t long in coming as the Bracknell fly half cut inside brushed past a couple of tackles and scored. The conversion was missed so we got to half-time with Bracknell undeservedly 8-5 up but the Maidenhead pack getting on top in the set scrums and loose play and with the backs making real inroads every time they got the ball the second half promised much.

Unfortunately the kick off from Maidenhead didn’t go 10 and from the resulting scrum the Bracknell fly-half kicked ahead and the forwards drove it on until they were under the posts. Then they moved the ball out wide for a score in the corner. Now Bracknell were 13 – 5 up but Maidenhead came right back with another excellent backs move for a try in the corner. Game on? Not really.

All the dominance that the Maidenhead forwards had at the end of the first half seemed to have evaporated and they suffered the final ignominy of being pushed back from their own put-in, losing the ball and conceding a try. With the conversion missed that put Bracknell 18 – 10 ahead. Most of the rest of the second-half was spent in the Maidenhead half with the occasional break out to give some hope of a score. Those missed opportunities in the first-half were now beginning to loom large, until with about 10 minutes to go another very good backs move…… but the pass went down. Nuff said.

Now Maidenhead seemed to shake off their torpor and drove down deep into their opponents 22 but couldn’t batter their way through. Then with a couple of minutes to go another backs move, all the passes stick, a try that is converted to make it 18 – 17 to Bracknell. But too late, only 2 minutes to go. This match was Maidenhead’s to win, but those missed chances in the first-half. They hurt.

Tries: Lester Martin (2) Ed Poulding
Conversions: Rob Wilkins

Joint “Men of the Match” were Ed Poulding and James Love.

And thanks to our sponsors “L & M International”.

Written By David ‘The Pencil’ Anthony