Despite some disappointing results Tadley's performances have improved steadily over recent weeks. After a good warm up and Coach Craig Raymond's call to arms ringing in their ears the home side were fired up and keen to impress the loyal home crowd.
Tadley welcomed back Mark Tucker, Mike Keeley and Ed Smith to the starting line up. Flanker Darren "Baby" Staley was promoted to the bench after a series of impressive performances for the second string since joining the club.
In excellent conditions, Cheltenham, who ran in 70 points against Windsor in the previous week, threw caution to the wind and ran the ball from everywhere. Centre Alan Bryan who was the pick of the Cheltenham backs bounced out of a tackle and sprinted clear of the covering defence in to open the scoring for the visitors in the left-hand corner for the opening score.
Tadley fought straight back, Cheltenham gave away a penalty from the restart kick and Raymond punished the indiscretion with a penalty goal.
Cheltenham continued in their expansive style. A miss pass caught the Tadley defence napping and winger Andy Taylor had enough pace to finish impressively. Scrum-half Mudway failed to convert from the touchline.
Despite being 10-3 down Tadley had enjoyed much of the possession with the forwards dominating the scrum and regularly securing good line out ball. With Cheltenham's scrum moving backwards Summers, Seal and Keeley exerted a lot of pressure on the Visiting half backs and secured a number of turnovers.
With the pressure on, the Cheltenham pack conceded a penalty from a scrum. Tadley skipper Thomas Bailey tapped quickly and sprinted clear to score a deserved try. The conversion from Raymond levelled the scores.
With the bit between their teeth Tadley started to launch a number of attacks. With Bailey and Raymond running the game and winger Dampies making break after break Tadley were very much on top. Despite struggling to secure possession Cheltenham defended well and on one of the few visits to Tadley's 22 managed to secure a penalty through Mudway to lead 13-10 at the break.
The second half was fought evenly with Tadley placing a lot of pressure on the pack in the set piece but unable to create any clear cut scoring opportunities. Cheltenham always looked dangerous on the break but Tadley's cover defence was much improved on the opening exchanges.
Vatcher and debutant Staley were introduced early in the second half to add fresh impetuous to the Tadley pack. The home side gradually built the pressure with clever tactical kicking and good ball retention. Even though they had their share of chances but the critical passes did not go to hand and on occasions kicked the ball a little too often.
Late in the second half a stray chip was fielded by Douglas the Cheltenham full back. He managed to beat the chase and after a couple of phases Alan Bryan made the significant break in midfield and gave Rich Morris an inside ball to score under the posts.
Tadley who have proved there not a side to lay down created two clear cut scoring opportunities but breaks from Bailey and centre Alex Pike were not rewarded with the scores that they deserved.
Cheltenham showed why they are near the top of the league and closed the game out with another Mudway penalty goal on the final whistle.
Tadley can take a lot of heart from this performance as they dominated much of the game and provided a real scare to Cheltenham who are in with a chance of promotion. However as they have learnt to their cost in recent weeks they must take their chances. With five league games left Tadley will probably need to win four of them to avoid relegation. This showing proved that they are capable of doing this but there is a lot of hard work ahead, starting with second place Swanage and Wareham on Saturday 1st March.
Tadley: A Swaddling, B Choules (P Collins 70), R Lowe, M Tucker, R Murray, M Keeley (M Vatcher 50), D Seal, C Summers (D Staley 50), T Bailey (c), C Raymond, G Dampies, A Pike, A Craig, E Smith, C Dennison.
Cheltenham: J Bryant, S Rowe (L Cleaver 70), S Gilder (N Hanby 70), T Obileye, S Crabb, F Chipendu, T Lait, C Daniell, M Mudway, S Hanks (A Hanger 60), A Taylor, B Constantine, A Bryan, R Morris, L Douglas.
Man of the Match - Thomas Bailey
Referee: J Gregory (Hampshire). |
