Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Plenty of errors in away defeat
The Canterbury slide continued as they blundered to a 12-7 defeat against a club stuck firmly in the National 2 South relegation area, writes DAVID HAIGH.
This was their fourth consecutive loss and if the city side’s poor form in this game does not improve, they could be in danger of joining Broadstreet in the survival scrap.
After conceding an early try to a Broadstreet catch and drive, scored by prop George Walsh, they had plenty of chances to build a decent lead.
A stubborn home defence was one obstacle but it was Canterbury who applied most of the pressure.
However, every time they got within striking distance, they made glaring errors or conceded penalties.
They carried a threat out wide where Harry Sayers and Aiden Moss were elusive runners but no one could made telling use of the ground they gained.
It took over half an hour for the city side to find a way through, with quick ball at last used wisely as Dan Smart made the initial break and Frankie Morgan finished off with a try converted by Kyan Braithwaite.
What followed summed up Canterbury’s day. A minute from half-time, a speculative clearance kick from Broadstreet was knocked on under no pressure.
From the scrum, the home side brought their backs into play and suddenly the city defence melted away.
Full-back Andrew Murray coasted in for a try which Cliff Hodgson converted and those two unnecessary errors saw a narrow lead squandered.
Canterbury opened the second half well, missed an early opportunity from a driven lineout as they managed to knock the ball on, then slowly vanished in a series of mistakes and penalties.
Broadstreet took control of the final quarter and while the city side’s attack was threadbare, you could not fault their defensive grit in protecting their bonus point.
They were let off the hook when Murray missed a fairly straightforward penalty attempt but Broadstreet ran the clock down efficiently and Canterbury were not good enough to prevent it. Canterbury: A.moss. K.thompson (repl B.howard), J.murray, F.morgan, (repl A.miller), H.sayers, D.smart, K.braithwaite, A.cooper (repl C.townley), J.otto (repl T.rogers), S.kenny, M.corker, R.cadman, J.rigby (repl A.woodward), S.clark, M.cantwell.