Medway travelled to Warlingham on Saturday and snatched victory from their hosts with a try from scrum half James Dance in the final five minutes.
Having trailed for the entire match, it was another patchy performance from the local lads, whose error count was again disappointingly high. However, their durability, and never say die attitude, was thankfully proven for the second week running.
Medway got off to the worst possible start conceding a converted try after only two minutes and without having touched the ball. Warlingham quickly extended their lead with a well struck penalty after six minutes.
Eventually Medway did gain some possession and began to get a foothold in the game. Sam Catlin pounced on a loose pass, hacked through twice and then gathered expertly to score a fine opportunist’s try. Ollie Best converted to narrow the score line to 10 – 7.
As Medway looked to build pressure and move their opposition around the field, Warlingham’s centre read a long miss pass, intercepted and cantered in from the half way line for a try under the posts after 23 minutes. Medway slowly worked their way back into the game and reduced the deficit to 17 – 13 by half time through a drop goal and penalty from fly half Ollie Best.
With the wind and slight slope in their favour during the second half, one hoped Medway would overtake and then use the elements to pull away from Warlingham. Medway did start the second half well and set up camp in the Warlingham 22, but could not break the home defensive line.
After fifteen minutes of soaking up Medway pressure, Warlingham broke out and quickly worked their way up the pitch to score a good converted try.
The two sides traded penalties and with twenty minutes to go, things looked bleak for Medway trailing 27 – 16. However, they threw caution to the wind and began to run the ball at every opportunity. On the half hour mark, a quickly taken penalty enabled Best to release the ever present Tom Beaumont to score a try out wide and pull the score back to 27 – 21.
With five minutes to go, and running the ball from deep inside their own half, Medway were awarded a penalty on the Warlingham 22. James Dance took a very quick tap penalty, beat the tiring defenders and raced over to score a try under the posts which Ollie Best converted to win the game by the narrowest of margins.
A highly entertaining game which could easily have been won by either side.
Medway team;
Brice, Humphrey, Cooley, Easton, Weobley, Huntley, Beaumont, Samuela, Hill, Best, Liua’ana, Burns, Fussell, Catlin, Wardzynski, Reddish, Dance, Petch.
Next game is away to Aylesford on the 22nd March in the League.