From the opening few minutes one could see how this game was going to unfold.
Mellish had a bulky but experienced front row and from the kick off, bic carries by their pack punched holes in Spalding’s defence, before they had time to settle.
Within two minutes the home team had the opening unconverted try on the score board.
Spalding were fielding a number of players stepping up from the 1923s side with Thomas Stevenson making his first team debut at prop, Ed Williams covering lock and Ryan Firth, more accustomed to playing in the backs, slotted in at openside flanker.
With their tails up Mellish were soon on the attack again, but as they attempted to pass out to their backs, centre Jack Patrick intercepted and ran the length of the pitch to score under the posts.
Fly half Henry Duce converted to stun the hosts..
Mellish reverted to their forwards to gain territory and Patrick pulled off a try saving tackle.
Spalding’s discipline at the break down and a couple of offsides resulted in Henry Hobson taking a team yellow card.
With Spalding’s scrum and pack now under powered, Mellish drove over the try line for a converted try after 11 minutes for a 12-7 lead.
The game settled down, but Spalding were failing to bring the speed of their backs into the game which, on the day was their strength.
Ash Anker came off the bench replacing Stevenson to add his experience.
Finally, with half time approaching, a chip over Mellish’s flat defence saw centre Sam Booth gather the ball to score and with a Duce conversion Spalding had a two point half time advantage.
The second half started brightly following the half time team talk from coach, Phil Trotman who demanded a faster pace.
A quickly taken tap penalty by Patrick, ten metres out saw Humphreys take the pass and glide in unopposed for an unconverted score.
However, Spalding fumbled the restart kick and Mellish laid siege to the try line. Despite valiant defence by Hobson, Anker, Jack Lambe and Jack Grundy who made tackle after tackle to keep the home team inches short of the try line, Mellish finally drove over for a converted try to draw level 19-19.
A sweeping move along Spalding’s backs saw Patrick outpace the home team’s defence for his second try and a good conversion by Duce put a seven-point lead back on the score board.
The next period of play was rather strange with the referee reaching for his yellow card for some rather innocuous offences.
First Humphreys had to leave the field for ten minutes and shortly after he returned Grundy was off .
Then Mellish lost two players to yellow cards resulting in a kickable penalty, but Spalding elected to go for the lineout, which did not deliver any result.
Then, with only a few minutes remaining, Spalding had another penalty towards the corner flag on the five metre line.
Instead of adopting Mellish’s tactics of using forward power to pin down the opposition and eat into the final minutes, the ball was played wide and lost.
With the clock past 80 minutes Mellish counter attacked, catching Spalding unprepared by going the length of the pitch to score under the posts, with the conversion drawing them level as the referee blew for full time.
It was a disappointing ending, but Spalding did come away with three points and they remain fifth in the league.
Team: Tom Parker, Elliot Humphreys, Thomas Stevenson, Henry Hobson, Ed Williams, Jack Lambe, Ryan Firth, Jack Grundy, Jim Wraith, Henry Duce, Gav Sharman, Sam Booth, Jack Patrick, Alexander Create, Ollie Machin. Subs: Ash Anker, Charlie Beecham, Ben Shields.
