Maids hit by late blow (09.04.05)

TWO evenly matched teams produced two evenly matched performances in a cliffhanger at Braywick on Saturday.
The initial momentum was with the visitors, but slowly Maids restored parity going into the break.
The second half saw Chinnor take a 10-point lead, before the hosts fought back doggedly to be two points ahead with 80 minutes on the clock.
But 10 points in injury time gave Chinnor the victory, the points and a chance of pipping Maids to a fourth place finish.
Chinnor were a decent team, but on the day this was a match which Maids let slip through their grasp.
They failed to take advantage of a stiff breeze in their favour in the first 40 minutes going into the interval level pegging at 12-12.
Some better decision-making when in sight of the tryline and some half-decent midfield defence would have assured Maids of a solid win.
This was confounded by the fact that Maids completely dominated the lineout for the entire match – Chinnor barely able to a win a ball.
But the visitors took their chances when it mattered to counter this deficiency, with their first score coming on 20 minutes. Influential fly-half James Cathcart sold the first of many dummies which the Maids defence were to buy, and off-loaded to winger Richard Grimsdell who ran in unopposed for a 5-0 advantage.
This was matched seven minutes later by a stunning individual effort from Maids centre Stuart Mackay, who took the ball from a scrum on the angle, and bounced off a couple of would-be tacklers to drive over in the corner.
Mackay was unsuccessful with the conversion .
Four minutes before the break Cameron Shaw spotted a gaping hole in Maids defence and strolled through from 30 yards for the simplest of tries. Cathcart converted.
Maids kept themselves in the match with a last-gasp first half touchdown of their own when the outstanding Mark Mueller blasted his way through and Mackay was on hand to finish the job.
Substitute Dan Walton, on for the injured Alex Greer, was on target with the conversion.
Against the wind now, Maids were always in for an uphill ride, and when after a further 10 minutes they were 22-12 down, following a try for James Hewitt and a conversion and penalty for Cathcart, the task grew tougher.
However, Maids produced their best phase of the match, with the previously anonymous Jonny Hammond grabbing centre stage.
The Maids centre set up Danny Martin for a converted try in the corner on 58 minutes, and then alongside good handling from Simon Cripps, Hammond had a part in Ben Ayres touching down.
Walton missed the conversion effort, but Maids were two points ahead and in control.
There did not seem to be a way through for the visitors as the clock ran down, but on 80 minutes Mark Ruddick’s rushed clearance from his tryline held up in the wind and landed in the arms of Grimsdell in midfield .
The winger, then proceeded to run around a flagging and out-of-position defence to score a fantastic back’s try, but from out of the blue.
Cathcart was spot on with the conversion and a drop goal three minutes later, to deliver the final knockout blow.

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