Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Late turnaround seals win
Canterbury put in their best performance of the season after a second-half fightback to beat high-flying Worthing Raiders 43-33 in National League 2 East, writes David Haigh.
Trailing by 19 points as the game entered its last quarter, they recaptured the lead with a try three minutes from the end. Not content with that, the city club crowned their afternoon’s work in the final play with a seventh score.
After watching his side produce pace, power and attacking flair against their second-in-the-table opponents, head coach Matt Corker said: “It was a great performance by the whole team and I was really happy to see the players show what I’ve known they are capable of for a long time. “Worthing being right at the top of the table shows that we can play well and win against anyone. Our focus now has to be that we keep pushing our standards and our level of performance will follow.” The shell-shocked visitors might have thought the points were theirs after building a 33-14 lead shortly after half-time against a Canterbury outfit hit by yellow cards and temporarily reduced to 13 players. Raiders had reached the break four points ahead after a hightempo first half in which the lead changed hands five times and Canterbury lost both Guy Hilton and Tom Best to injuries. Fraser Bruce, Curtis Barnes and Dan Sargent scored
Worthing’s tries, with Matt Mclean adding two conversions. Canterbury replied through a close-range finish from Cameron Mcmillan and when replacement Sam Sterling appeared for his first game of the season he quickly made an impact with a fine burst for the second try and went on to make a significant contribution. The only blemish was a swinging arm which cost him a yellow card and led to Sargent’s try a minute before the break. On the resumption, Raiders were quickly out of the blocks and when Tyler Oliver joined Sterling in the sin-bin they worked an overlap for Barnes to touch down and Sargent followed by bagging his second forward-driven try. Two more conversions from Mclean left the city club with a massive challenge.
Restored to full strength, the first breach was made in the 58th minute when Billy Young burrowed over and Canterbury went into all out attacking mode.
An Oliver try and Frank Reynolds’ third conversion cut the deficit to seven and when prop Elliot Lusher made an eye-catching break it was the prelude to slick handling and a Reynolds try.
Raiders were reeling under the onslaught and Canterbury’s adventure paid off when space was created for Frank Morgan’s 77th-minute score which took his side back in front. As a final treat for the fervent crowd Oliver strolled over in the last minute to leave Reynolds an easy and satisfying shot at goal. This weekend Canterbury, in 10th, travel to third-place Dorking.
Canterbury:
Canterbury Pilgrims had their Kent 2 clash last weekend against Old Dunstonian 1sts postponed.