Resurgent Spalding RFC moved to within two points of the top three in Midlands Three East (North) with a comeback win at Grimsby on Saturday.
Trailing 22-10 at the interval, Town roared back to win 41-27 at Springfield Road and move up into fifth place in the standings.
It has been a remarkable turnaround for the Elephants in recent months, given they were just one point above the bottom two following a 38-26 loss at Sleaford back on November 25. However, they’ve won four on the bounce since then and are now eyeing up the top spots for the first time in years.
Grimsby started the match in a confident style, using their forwards to drive the ball up field to good effect.
It wasn’t long before their back row took the ball on the burst to get across the gain line and, with Spalding’s defence drawn in, the ball was spread quickly out wide for their left winger to score in the corner.
Five minutes later they repeated the trick, but this time they scored out wide on the right.
Town’s defensive shape soon sharpened up as they pressed to close space – led by centres George Brown and Adam McHugh.
Grimsby lost the ball deep in Spalding’s half and it was then spread quickly along the backs to Gav Sharman, who showed his pace to outstrip everybody and open the visitors’ account.
But in doing so, he pulled his hamstring and was replaced by Fin Peters.
Spalding’s scrum was again looking very secure, led by props Pete Waudby and Pete Smith and hooker John Barrett, who burst forward gaining 30 metres.
The momentum was continued and finally finished off as Ash Piccaver broke through a couple of tackles to go over in the left corner and pull Town level on points.
Grimsby immediately responded and twice the Elephant’s press defence was caught offside, with Harry Cole receiving a yellow card for the second offence with just five minutes of the first half remaining.
The home team took full advantage of the extra man, helping themselves to two tries and a half-time lead of 22 points to ten.
With the ten-minutes yellow card up, Jason Steel came onto the field in place of Harry Cole and immediately made an impact, playing number eight with Harry Brown moving up to lock.
From a scrum, Steels picked up and gained a good 20 metres. Peters continued the move down the left, cut back inside and McHugh was on hand to crash over the try line.
Just a couple of minutes later Spalding came right back into the game.
The forwards were starting to win the breakdown battle, with Grimsby tiring and scrum-half Ben Shields, who had an excellent game, popped the ball out of the back door to fly-half Dan Adams.
He offloaded for George Brown to run between the posts and, with Ashton Capes converting, the scores were now level.
Back came Grimsby through their forwards to go five points up.
Then back came Spalding with the ball flowing along the backs in open play, pulling Grimsby apart, with McHugh finishing off for his second try of the afternoon and the teams were level again.
Next, Steels made a break across the field, Piccaver continued the move and then popped the ball back inside with Harry Brown on his shoulders to score between the posts, which was converted by Capes.
The home team were now in disarray and unable to cope with Town’s running game.
Peters then lit up the dull afternoon with a mazy run down the left wing, beating four or five defenders before finally being tackled just a few metres short.
But full-back George Douglas was in support to cross the line, with Capes converting.
With a 14-point lead and eight minutes remaining, all Spalding needed to do was close the match out.
Immediately, they stole lineout possession for the first time, and – with tiredness and the temperature dropping – both teams’ handling was suffering and they started to knock the ball on.
With each scrum, time was ticking away. A Grimsby hooker, in frustration, infringed and was yellow carded, which in effect sealed an excellent win for Spalding.
This was certainly Spalding’s best away team performance of the season, with a level of intensity, offloading with support runners and quick passing, which left the opposition stunned and defeated by the end of the match.
Spalding RFC: Pete Waudby, John Barrett, Pete Smith, Harry Cole, Ash Piccaver, Will Shields, Richard Cooke (captain), Harry Brown, Ben Shields, Dan Adams, Gav Sharman, George Brown, Adam McHugh, Ashton Capes, George Douglas. Subs: Jason Steels and Fin Peters.
