Bracknell dazzled by Matt finish

Bracknell dazzled by Matt finish

Bracknell RFC Colts 6 v Drifters Colts 10

By David Ryan

A combination of individual errors and ragged thinking deprived Bracknell Colts of a third successive win against OBB Division One opposition, and left Academy coach Martin Radford “disappointed and frustrated”.
Bracknell registered some good forward pressure early on at Lily Hill Park and Nick Cox had put them ahead within two minutes with a penalty after Drifters had strayed offside at a scrum. But the game’s key moment came six minutes later.
There were signs that Drifters would find joy out wide if they could move the ball quickly enough, so it was a surprise to all when their breakthrough came straight down the middle.
Bracknell scrum-half, Simon Haddad, put in a poor clearance on eight minutes that went straight to his opposite number, Matt Earl. Earl took the aimless punt under no pressure and found a line already formed inside him to counter attack. The tricky No 9 drew defenders before unloading a pass, but the pass never came. Earl’s outrageous dummy fooled three defenders and took him to the five-metre line before his fellow Matt, Brown this time, added the finish and a conversion for a 3-7 lead.
Cox, having another solid day with the boot, reduced the deficit to 6-7 with a penalty on 15 minutes after Drifters had killed the ball at a ruck two metres from the line. And, as the OBB Division Two outfit’s heavy horses got the bit between the teeth, Drifters were forced to hold on for another 20 scoreless minutes to preserve their slim lead until half time.
Radford, convinced he had the better side, told his troops to keep doing the right things in the second-half, be patient and good things would happen. A fair assessment after a half in which dogged Bracknell, typified by man-of-the-match Karl Findlay at prop, refused to let Drifters play (with one spectacular exception) but had also failed to play themselves.
However, due to poor skills at crucial moments, Radford’s charges were unable to add a single point after the break. The only score, in an error-strewn half in which defenders ruled, went to Drifters, a penalty for offside on 39 minutes which Brown again slotted.
In thinking of what might - and should - have been, Bracknell will rue a zero-return from three attacking five-metre scrums and three mighty and identical penalty kicks sent booming down the right touchline by centre Chris Laidler, all of which failed to hit touch.
Laidler’s boot is like a heavy industrial machine - awesome when working properly but very difficult to recalibrate when things go wrong. He must learn to adjust.
If Laidler needs a spanner, Steve Nee-Davies needs some binoculars. In the best chance of the half, he scorched up the right but, with one man to beat and the blond locks of back-row Matt Elsbury bouncing up in support, the substitute winger made a pig’s ear of a silk purse because he failed to look around.
Davies, instead of giving his skipper a scoring pass (always a good idea Steve!) or indeed, dummying a pass so that he could score the try himself (excellent second option), decided to step inside the Drifters’ last man, straight into the path of his support runner, thus ensuring that they ended up in a crumpled heap on the floor (well, it’s another way to go!).
“I could not fault the players’ effort,” said a deflated Radford. “But I’m disappointed and frustrated because I know we are much better than that and should have won that game.
“The atmosphere was just not right. You get days like that and they’re hard to explain. We were, mentally and physically, off the pace for 20 minutes. The guys pulled that around but the frustrations grew as we failed to get clean ball to our backs. Our structure disintegrated despite having the upper hand in territory and possession.”
“We won,” said Drifters’ manager Andrew Wagstaffe. “But it was a complete grind. Bracknell were on us all the time and our No 10 could not play his game. We didn’t have the best of the ref but we got the bounce of the ball. Also, Bracknell made errors in attack and were dislocated by having to rotate squad players in. We only brought three subs.”

SCORERS: Cox (pen) 3-0, 2min; Brown (try) 3-5, 8min; Brown (con) 3-7, 9min; Cox (pen) 6-7, 15min; Brown (pen) 6-10.