Warren seals league status
A WIN at long last for Sedgley Park Tigers who hosted Cinderford at Park Lane yesterday and came away with a well-earned win for the first time in 2024 to secure their place in National 1 for next season.
The Tigers opened the scoring with a penalty from star man Warren Seals after five minutes, and stayed ahead until Sam Smith stole a try for Cinderford in the 17th minute, converted by Jake Shortland.
Tom Ailes quickly responded with a try off the restart, charging after Seals’ kick to ground the ball for the Tiger’s first try after 18 minutes, converted by Seals.
Shortland put Cinderford ahead after 20 minutes with a penalty kick in the face of the harsh Whitefield weather and another followed in the 36th minute.
Captain Matt Riley linked up with Lewis Bradley on an edge for the Tiger’s next try after 39 minutes, converted by Seals, but it was another Seals penalty that closed out the first half with the Tigers leading 17-13 at the interval.
Star man Seals reopened the second half with another penalty in the 45th minute, extending Tigers’ lead, but this was soon undone by
Max Knight’s try for Cinderford five minutes later, bringing the scores even once again at 20-20, converted by Shortland.
Seals added one more to his string of successful kicks with another penalty in the 54th minute, the No.10 seemingly back to normal since last week.
Cinderford brought the game down to the wire after Sam Smith’s try in the 63rd minute put them back in the lead for a short time, but Shortland was unable to add the extras from the conversion.
Any hopes of an away victory for Cinderford were snuffed out by a final try from man-ofthe-hour Seals who converted his own score in the 66th minute, closing out the day’s scoring.
A yellow card for Austin Downham’s intentional knock put the pressure on the Tigers to keep out their visitors for the last few minutes of the game.
A final kick for touch off Matt Sturgess’ boot in extra time ended the match, final score 30-25 to Tigers.
After the match, star man Seals said: “It feels like the monkey is off our back – it’s a relief.
“It gives us a chance now to play with some freedom towards the end of the season.”
Sedgley Park Tigers travel to Blackheath for their next fixture, while Cinderford will fight to stay in National 1 against Rosslyn Park.