match report
A Dismal Day in the Forest
Southend journeyed by train to Gloucester for their game against League newcomers Cinderford. They travelled light, they were missing both their wingers Mark Billings and Tyson Lewis. To make matters worse Andrew Frost was a late cry off as well.
However whether they could have made a difference is questionable. In a blowy, windy and wet game Southend came off a poor second. They were put to the sword by Cinderford from the starts, who went 7 – 0 up almost immediately. The pattern of the game was established with Southend desperately defending or vainly trying to make ground when in possession.
Cinderford pressure eventually told and they scored a further seven points. Southends single reply was a long range, downwind penalty from Sid Hoult.
The only time Southend were in Cinderfords twenty two was when Holt chased down a long speculative kick from Jol Johnson, playing his first game of the season at fly half, the Cinderford full backs attempt at a clearance was charged down by Hoult but the ball bounced to safety.
Cinderford forwards scored another try just before half time taking them into a comfortable 19 – 3 lead.
The second half was a repeat of the first with Southend unable to mount any kind of threat, loose ball was continually lost and possession saw no worthwhile progress. Hoult and Cleare the replacement wingers had a lonely afternoon in attack and spent most of their time in defence.
Apart from an early penalty again from Hoult, Southend tried unsuccessfully to stem the Cinderford tide who ran in another four tries in their 48 – 6 victory.
Their supporters were very helpful after the game offering analyses and advice on where Southend went wrong. Unfortunately there is not enough space to list all of it.
Southend have now shipped 15 try’s in the last two games scoring only 2 in reply, a worrying statistic that needs to be urgently addressed before next weeks home game against Waterloo, one of two teams below us in the League.
Alan Grace
Match Stats
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