Bury can’t make most of winning positions
WORTHING Raiders came back from a tenpoint deficit after just seven minutes to close the gap on opponents Bury St Edmunds.
The visitors wasted ten and eight-point leads as Matt McLean kicked nine points to help Raiders to within two points of Bury in the table.
Raiders head coach Jody Levett was taking plenty of positives from his side’s performance, despite his side conceding the early advantage to their visitors.
“It was a frustrating per- formance in some ways, to go 10-0 down after five or six minutes is obviously disappointing,” he said.
“Then we had to work out way back into the game, in what wasn’t great conditions, and we weren’t able to control the game like we wanted to do.
“But to come away with the win, having been those ten points down, was pleasing.
“The home win was vitally important, especially after a run of five really tough games – playing that top five and the top two both away.
“It was always going to be difficult and that midtable is so tight that the win was important.”
Visiting fly-half Fraser Honey kicked the scoreboard into life with a penalty in the fifth minute.
And it did not take long until they added to that lead, with inside centre Mark Kohler going over just a minute later – Honey adding the conversion to establish a ten-point lead after just seven minutes.
But Raiders were not going down without a fight and were back in the game on the 20-minute mark as hooker William GearingGrief bundled over in difficult conditions to give his side a lifeline, McLean kicking his first points of the day with the conver-
sion.
Bury winger Guillame Duplenne continued the visitors’ early superiority, though, crossing ten minutes later to put his side eight points ahead – Honey wayward from the kicking tee.
From then on, it was all Worthing, though, with the home side getting to within a point of their opponents before the break.
It came courtesy of Kiba Richards, the outside centre dotting down with just four minutes left to play in the first half and McLean converting to leave the score 14-15 at the break.
And Raiders were soon ahead after the resumption, flanker Jonathan Whittall scoring the home side’s third try of the day on 42 minutes, with McLean again converting.
Honey missed the chance to get Bury back within three points as he missed a penalty five minutes later.
But he found his range with 12 minutes to play as Bury sniffed a victory.
And while his side did push for trh, it was left to McLean to have the final say, adding three to Worthing’s total with five minutes to play and sealing the points.
The win sees Raiders in eighth, a point behind Bury in seventh.