Spalding suffered derby despair after a dramatic finish to Saturday’s Midlands 2 East (North) showdown at Kesteven.
With just a few minutes left on the clock and trailing by six points, Spalding were awarded a kickable penalty just outside Kesteven’s 22-metre line.
Harry Winch kicked for touch with the lineout being awarded only five metres out.
Tom Deurden secured the lineout ball following a good throw in by Sam Cowell and a maul was established.
Spalding drove for the try line and, as Kesteven resorted to collapsing the maul, Ryan Chappell still went over the try line to close the gap to just one point.
To the agony and dismay of the Spalding players and supporters but, to the delight of the home team, the conversion attempt was missed.
Spalding still had five minutes to win the game and Tom Winch sped down the right wing and, as a last ditch tackle came in, there was no support player to take a pass.
Still Spalding pressed, this time down the left-hand side with Adam Castle side-stepping several Kesteven defenders.
The home team cleared their lines and Spalding had one final line-out 15 metres out and, instead of sticking to the successful catch and driving maul formula, they tried a move at the front of the lineout, incurring a free kick to Kesteven and, with time up, the ball was kicked out of play for a narrow and disappointing defeat.
With captain Harry Brown injured, vice-skipper Deurden led the team out with a couple of changes from the previous week.
Kieran Bailey started alongside Jordan Templer at lock with Deurden moving to the back row.
There was a welcome return for Adam McHugh, teaming up with George Brown in the centre, as Harry Winch moved to fly half with James West absent. Gavin Sharman started on the left wing.
With the wind and slope against them, Spalding were immediately put under pressure by Kesteven and, with the problems in the scrum still apparent, Kesteven’s half back combination started to run the show.
It was not long before a penalty was conceded by Spalding and a successful kick gave the home team an early lead.
Spalding were making a valiant effort to keep the home team at bay with a well drilled defence, hardly a tackle missed, but a further penalty awarded to Kesteven saw the lead increase to six points.
As half time approached it looked like Spalding had successfully managed a difficult first half, but Kesteven had two successive scrums on Spalding’s five-metre line and a blind side pickup saw them over the try line.
With a successful conversion, they had secured a 13-0 half-time lead.
The second half saw Spalding sensibly using the slope and wind to kick for territory with scrum half Will Shields providing Harry Winch with good ball.
From one of these kicks Tom Winch followed up, kicked through and dived on the ball in the goal area for Spalding’s first try.
Pressure was mounting on Kesteven as they started to infringe at the breakdown and, from one of these penalties, Winch kicked for touch.
Being only five metres from the try line, the line-out ball was well won and a driving maul established.
As Mikey Watts went over the referee had already awarded a penalty try as Kesteven collapsed the maul.
To everybody’s surprise and disappointment the conversion attempt in front of the posts was missed.
Jacob Hutson replaced Bailey in the scrum and McHugh and Sharman were replaced by George Douglas and Adam Castle during the second half as coach George Reid made changes.
Another breakdown infringement, handling in the ruck by Kesteven, saw their flanker yellow carded.
During an exciting second half, Kesteven were under constant pressure and conceded eight penalties while being lucky to lose only one of their players to a yellow card.
After Spalding’s third try and the final minutes of pressure when the team did all they could to win the game, there was a level of disappointment within the side.
However, with a bit more confidence in their ability and more patience in the final 22, a home win next week will be the target to add to the losing bonus point gained from this narrow defeat.
Spalding: Mikey Watts, Sam Cowell, Josh Caley, Jordan Templer, Kieran Bailey, Marc Myles, Ryan Chappell, Tom Deurden, Will Shields, Harry Winch, Gavin Sharman, Adam McHugh, George Brown, Tom Winch, Ben Williamson. Subs: Jacob Hutson, George Douglas, Adam Castle.
