Chinnor Slip & Slide To Narrowist Of Wins (By Kenneth Vaughan)

AFTER a steady downpour had rendered the pitch something akin to a Florida swamp, the referee was of the opinion that although the surface was 70% waterlogged, it was firm underneath and Saturday’s game against Weston-Super-Mare should go ahead.
With Ed Rixon sidelined with an ear infection, Andy Milburn switched to the back-row giving Matt Hutchins his first start since his knee injury.
Weston were on the scoresheet as early as the third minute when they counter-attacked from their 22 metre line. A speculative kick ahead was fielded by
Hughes who set his threequarters moving across the park with the move ending up 10 metres from the Chinnor line. With the line-out leading to a scrummage
and a Weston put-in, James Reid, taking advantage of a Chinnor slip in the mud, glided under the posts. The added conversion and a penalty, five minutes later by Reid, put the home side 10 pts ahead in as many minutes.
With the playing conditions deteriorating rapidly, it was an uphill task for Chinnor from then on in. Chinnor then pegged back the lead when Buckley
slotted over a penalty for a Weston offside. A determined, gutsy run from Eric Brown when he picked up a loose ball in the middle of the park, saw him
pass the ball inside to Matt Buckley who fed Morgan Thompson, who took the ball at pace to score a stunning try in view of the conditions. Buckley then
missed the conversion and amidst a flurry of yellow cards involving Chase and Jones of Weston, and Hennessy and Maxwell of Chinnor, the game ended up at
13 aside and a two-point Weston advantage at the interval.
Although the referee handed out a sin-binning for four players, in no way was this a bad tempered
game as the players were penalised for technical fouls rather than violent play.
Weston in their changed kit, piled on the pressure in the first quarter of the second half with Reid missing two kickeable penalties during this period
of play. It was now becoming difficult to make any headway but gradually Chinnor made their way into Weston territory. With Weston still hanging on
to their two point advantage and just eight minutes left on the clock, Chinnor made a double substitution with Tom Whelan replacing Bob Harris and Richard
Williams coming on for Matt Buckley.
Recognising that the referee would call a halt to the proceedings without too much recourse to injury time, Chinnor were awarded a penalty with four minutes left on the clock which Williams stepped up and kicked. Weston then threw everything at Chinnor in what must
have been the longest four minutes of the season. They held on with one Weston drive being held-up literaly inches short. With no-side blown this was indeed a proud Chinnor achievement and with only two games left, one victory only is needed for promotion. They must not get too carried away but it would put the icing on the cake if they could wrap up the league in their last home game against Maidenhead.