Game slips tantalisingly from Blues’ grasp

WHITSTABLE HSBC

13 15

A momentary loss of focus midway through the second half cost Whitstable the chance of a notable Kent 1 victory at home to HSBC on Saturday The Blues, leading 13-5 at half-time, were pleased to have emerged from a 15-minute examination by HSBC having only conceded three points. However, from the restart they conceded two more penalties in quick succession which led to the visitors scoring a decisive, converted try. Skipper Ben Cliff admitted it was a frustrating way to lose but he was encouraged by the performance, particularly given the Blues lost player-coach Mal Graves and experienced No.10 Steve Mullins to injury in the opening 25 minutes. He said: “To a man I could not fault them, we played really well in the first half particularly. “We had a similar situation when we played them away, we were in the game and then they ran away with it at the end. “They did not so much run away with it this time which was good, but we got punished for silly little mistakes. “We produced 15 minutes of sustained defence and did really well to only give away three points. “Then we gave away two penalties in quick succession and they cost us the try.” The loss of Graves came in the opening few minutes after he had suffered a blow to his ribs in a tackle and Whitstable also had a try disallowed because the referee could not be certain the ball had been grounded. Their eight-point half-time lead was the result of a Cliff try converted by Andrew Huey who also kicked two penalties. HSBC responded with an unconverted try and then claimed the points with a penalty and a converted try in that pivotal secondhalf period to inflict a 12th defeat in 15 matches on the Blues. Joey Taggart, who came on to replace Graves at No.8, was man-ofthe-match. Cliff added: “Normally when Mal goes off we tend to lose a bit of momentum but I said to the boys at half-time that it was the best performance we’d put in without him. “Everyone was up for the game, it was just a pity we lost it in those few minutes in the second half.” Whitstable, who remain ninth, are without a game this weekend. They return to action away to fifthplaced Cranbrook on March 2.