South fall just short at Longton

Stung by their abject surrender last week at Kettering South travelled to Longton in Stoke determined to make amends.
On a firm pitch, going uphill and under cool, crisp conditions South opened the game in a forceful mood taking the game to the opposition in robust fashion. Perhaps stung by his enforced retirement from the Kettering game Chris Bale was at the fore supported by brother Stuart, Mike March, Max Castrogiovanni and the ever reliable Ben Antill.
Territorial advantage was gained by South, but Longton looked dangerous on the break. Mark Lord opened the scoring with a fine long range penalty as Longton were caught offside. An even longer penalty was marginally wide as was a drop goal attempt as South put the pressure on.
Longton came back into the game putting on some pressure of their own mostly generated from good line out possession, resulting in a straightforward penalty converted from in front of the posts. South repulsed successive Longton attacks in that period although Max Castrogiovanni spent ten minutes in the bin leading up to half time.
The score remained at 3 – 3 until the 56th minute when Longton scored off the one and only chance they made with a try wide on the left which was converted, turning out to be the match winning score.
The remainder of the game ebbed and flowed with neither side able to assert their superiority. Both sides suffered from poor mis-directed passing and an inability to hold on to the ball in contact, which meant scoring chances were few and far between.
Longton should have extended their lead with two straight-forward penalties, but both were missed as the game petered out as the sun went down.
The game was played in a fine spirit although hard and uncompromising with the referee being fair and equitable throughout – something of a rarity in our games this season!

Although South failed to win the game, they played with a renewed vigour that was rewarded in the bonus point. If the basic handling mistakes could be ironed out then possession can be turned into points - something of a problem at this stage of the season.
Good to see some members of the executive travelling with the team and joining the South faithful on the touchline. No doubt they were introduced to the delights of Edward Ciderhands and the less than tasteful shirts worn by the team on the return journey.

Team: Lang, Clarke, King, Trevithick (Devaney), Jordan, Lord, McFedries, C.Bale, Castrogiovanni, March (C.Mark), S.Bale, Antill, Bayley, Green, Jones (R.Mark).

Man of the Match: Ben Antill.