A narrow derby defeat against Sleaford on Saturday has left Spalding RFC precariously positioned above the relegation zone.
Town went down 28-24 at the Memorial Field to at least collect two losing bonus points, but are now just four points clear of the bottom three in ninth place.
The Elephants were behind from the sixth minute when Sleaford sliced open the home team’s defence to score under the posts for a converted try.
However, victory should have been snatched out of defeat with the last play of the match.
Awarded a scrum on Sleaford’s five metre line following a knock on at a lineout, Spalding secured the ball at the put in. The home team’s forwards had had the upper hand in the scrum and they started to exert their superiority edging forward.
With the ball under control at the back of the scrum the five metres was steadily eaten away until the try line was within reach.
Finally, the ball was over the try line and all that was required was for a Spalding player to touch down to win the game. Instead Sleaford’s scrum-half picked the ball up and cleared for the referee to blow his whistle to end the 80-minute battle.
With Sleaford kicking off, prop Jordan Butcher went up to secure the ball – but sustained an injury and was replaced by John Barrett.
Sleaford’s opening try had knocked Spalding’s confidence and the visitors capitalised as they spread the ball out to their backs.
And, with the home team infringing with the award of penalties and a free-kick, a quickly-taken tapped penalty saw the visiting inside centre cut through some poor Spalding defence for a converted try and a 14-point lead within the first nine minutes.
Town responded using a combination of forward play, then releasing the ball along their backs. As left winger Ben Shields received the ball it looked like the move had finished, but Willis
Ingleby looped around and a good offload saw him score in the corner.
However, Spalding’s suspect defence again allowed Sleaford to immediately respond as their outside centre gratefully ran through unopposed for a further converted try.
With the game now end-to-end, the Elephants were attacking deep into Sleaford’s 22 metre and, from a ruck, Harry Sharman sold a dummy pass and was over for Spalding’s second try with Ingleby converting.
Back came the away side and their right winger was round Town’s failing defence for their fourth converted try with only 24 minutes on the clock.
Trailing by 16 points, Spalding knew they were going to have to dig in and use their forwards if they wanted to get back into the game. Carries from the front row trio of Jacob Greaves, Sam Cooke and John Barrett took Spalding back down the pitch and, with Sleaford defending their line, captain Richard Cooke dived over for a converted try just before half-time.
Liam Adams came on for Harry Cole at flanker and Spalding’s defence by now had sorted itself out.
And, in contrast to the free-flowing opening first half, the second became tight and intense.
Sleaford were kicking deep for territory, but this played into full-back Adam McHugh’s hands with his forceful counter-attack runs setting up good rucks for Spalding’s next phase of play.
With over half of the second period gone and no score, it was Sharman who showed the way with a forceful drive for his second try to set-up the hosts for the last 15 minutes of sustained pressure.
However, in scoring Sharman strained his hamstring and was replaced by Kev Hudson.
Pressure was bringing penalty awards to Town, but the resultant kicks to touch brought no reward until the final few minutes of the match when an unlikely victory should have been secured.
The consolation for Spalding was picking up two bonus points taking them to 45 league points just above the relegation zone – making Saturday’s rearranged home match against Rolls Royce (3pm) all the more vital.
Spalding RFC: Jacob Greaves, Sam Cooke, Jordan Butcher, Kieran Bailey, Ash Piccaver, Harry Cole, Jason Steels, Harry Sharman, Richard Cooke, Dan Adams, Ben Shields, Willis Ingleby, George Brown, Ashton Capes, Adam McHugh. Subs John Barrett, Liam Adams and Kev Hudson.
