Narrow defeat for makeshift Bosworth
OAKHAM 19 MARKET BOSWORTH 17 Counties 1 Midlands East (South)
WHEN one of the team decides to get married on a Saturday in the season and invites half the team to help him celebrate then you can expect the game not to run as normal. That was the case this week except that the promoted players did not let the side down, but the team had not played together beforeand that produced a lot of mistakes.
The game got off to a flying start when scrum half Liam Holmes managed to dive over to open the scoring for Bosworth and with the conversion added by Jack Gilman things looked very promising. However, a couple of minutes later Matt Handford was yellow carded giving Oakham the opportunity to narrow the gap with three points for a penalty kick which they duly took. Unfortunately for Bosworth, at this early stage in the game, they lost the try scoring scrum half, Liam Holmes and first choice prop Charlie Read both having to leave the field due to injuries.
Market Bosworth did look the better side but an Oakham try put them one point ahead.
Bosworth quickly composed themselves and Ricky Wickwar ran in an excellent try, converted by Gilman to put Bosworth six points ahead.
The second half started with Oakham now putting the pressure on but a penalty against Oakham in front of their posts let Gilman add another three points to Bosworth’s score. It was then Bosworth’s turn to catch the referee’s eye who kept penalising them as Oakham advanced and claimed another try.
Having been nine points ahead just after half time Bosworth’s fortunes receded when Team Captain for the day Ricky Wickwar was shown a red card for an alleged late hit with a no arms tackle. The resultant penalty added another three points to the home side’s score and narrowing the score to just one point.
From the restart Bosworth got into Oakham’s twenty-two but no further as more infringements saw Oakham advance in the other direction all the way into Bosworth’s twenty-two where Bosworth were caught offside giving Oakham an easy penalty kick and another three points to put them two points in the lead.
The game continued at a cracking pace from one end to the other, one team trying to retain the slender lead and the other trying to secure a win. With seconds left on the clock Bosworth were awarded a penalty right in front of the posts giving them the opportunity to win by two points.
However, Bosworth’s player coach questioned the referee as to why he had not given a red card for the offence, whereupon the referee reversed his decision allowing Oakham to clear the ball and win the game by the two points.
With the team in second place in the league, Vipers, also losing on Saturday, positions in the league have not changed with Bosworth in third place, but the team in fourth place have narrowed the gap on Bosworth to seven points with a game in hand. Bosworth who are at home on Saturday for the last time this season, need to win these next two games to have any chance of promotion.