Lydney 1^st XV v Shelford 1^st XV           10^th April 2010  

Result: 41 points to 29 points 

With Lydney needing to register a win to give themselves any chance of avoiding relegation at the end of the season, an early score was a necessity. Not only for the points, but also to boost their confidence bearing in mind the score line when they visited Shelford at the start of the season. This they duly managed against a team they would have barely recognised as Shelford continued to give experience to their up and coming players.

Before Shelford registered their first points of the match with a converted penalty kick by Edward Gough in the twenty fifth minute, Lydney had eased their fears with two converted tries and one unconverted try. Soon after, Lydney increased their lead with a further converted try. By now Shelford had realised that, not only did they need to improve their first time tackle effectiveness, but most importantly, their ability to retain possession at key times and therefore deny their opponents any opportunity to create point scoring positions. So, phase by phase, Shelford began to put this realisation into practice. Short but effective drives by both forwards and backs became the first order of play. With quick recycled ball added to the mix they established control of the ball and starved Lydney of any possession. They were justifiably rewarded for their efforts when Will McKlintok burrowed his way over for a converted try in the thirty seventh minute. Additional points were added when Edward Gough converted a penalty kick as Lydney struggled to cope with a resurgent Shelford team.

Half time came with the score line reading 26 points to 13 points but with Shelford in the ascendancy. The start of the second half gave an indication of how far Shelford’s young talent has come in their experience gathering journey when they secured the kick off ball and continued with the effective pick up and drive play, as exemplified by Andrew Hutchinson, for Shingai Chiwanga to burst through a now frail Lydney defence and touch down for a converted try. For the next twenty minutes of play Shelford continued to execute their game plan which left Lydney no option but to infringe as they sought to deny Shelford any further tries. These infringements were punished by Edward Gough who converted three penalty kicks to bring the score line level at 26 points to 26 points. This was to be the highpoint of the game for Shelford as they then committed a series of errors that allowed Lydney to establish a forward platform from which they posted a converted penalty kick, one converted try and finally an unconverted try against a further penalty kick for Shelford converted by Edward Gough. The final whistle was greeted with a resounding cheer from the Lydney faithful who will be hoping that the score line of 41 points to 29 points will be enough to assist them as they try to secure their future in National League 2 for next season.            

With their position already secured, Shelford’s next match is against Worthing at the Davey Field on the 17^th April 2010.