Sat 14 Oct 2023
Maldon travelled to rivals Stanford-Le-Hope, fresh from last week’s win, hoping to continue their winning streak. Pre-kick off, coach Mark enjoyed a long chat with the referee, as they were old friends.
Stanford-Le-Hope started off with a strong breeze behind them & before too long crossed for a converted try, 7-0. But, Maldon played well, against elements, with Brad White making good ground in the centre by running through tackles. This set up good field position, allowing skipper Joshua Chadwick to spot a gap & score under the posts, then convert the try himself, 7-7.
Given the weather conditions, Maldon had a good first half & were in the game. But, first a front row George Alden-Smith managed to get a yellow card, allowing Stanford-Le-Hope to kick a penalty, 10-7. Alden-Smith returned, then one of his front row partners, George Perkins managed to pick up a yellow card, so Maldon played with 14 players for 20 minutes. However, during this second yellow card period, excellent hands in the corner, and a great offload from Sam Langston, allowed Jack Judd, having his best game this season, to score in the corner, 10-12 at half-time.
With the game so close & the wind behind Maldon, captain Joshua Chadwick elected to kick a penalty to extend the lead to 10-15. This woke up Stanford-Le-Hope & they immediately became more effective, whilst Maldon started to give penalties away, generally for high tackles. Stanford-Le-Hope scored a converted try, then a penalty, 20-15 to the home team. Maldon then started to use the elements better & gained territory. Good interplay between a number of players allowed George Perkins to redeem the yellow card, by scoring a try, 20-20. Another Stanford-Le-Hope penalty, 23-20. The game was difficult to predict at this point, as both teams were showing good play & the lead kept changing. But, Maldon then had a 10 minute period when they won the game. First, substitute Zak Knight showed good footwork to score a try, converted by Chadwick, 23-27. This was closely followed by Stanford-Le-Hope throwing a speculative pass, intercepted by centre Dan Allen, who beat 2 would-be tacklers to score, again converted by Chadwick, 23-34.
The game finished with many players running in to pat each other on the back, just before the final whistle.
This victory takes Maldon to 7th in the league, on the same points as the 6th & 5th placed team. Maldon’s ability to score tries and pick up bonus points will play a big part in this league.
Pleasing today was the efforts by all players, as a number of players showed improvements in a number of ways & the strategic play, whilst not perfect, was much better too.
Next week, Upminter at home.
MAN OF THE MATCH
Max Knight for physical carrying, scattering bodies all over the pitch, and rucking well.
