NARROW DEFEAT AT TUNBRIDGE WELLS

Playing down the obvious slope in the first half , the Lions did not gain the territorial advantage that they needed . The Tunbridge Fly-Half put in a clever kick to the corner ,which was not collected by the defence and the swift Home Right Wing did take the favourable bounce and scored .
The Tunbridge pack, with some experienced forwards, put the Visitors under pressure and drove well in the mauls . The Line-outs were quite even, and Eoin McGrath tackled well from the back of the line and Lions did contain the offensive .
Luke Armstrong made a good break from the Right and was prevented from scoring by a slip on the soggy ground . At this stage, Tunbridge looked the livelier side . Then Carl Thatcher was given a yellow card for a misdemeanour but the reduced Lions contained the attacks . Tackling by both sides was good .
Again Luke Armstrong burst out from his wing , was stopped and from the ruck, Adam Michael advanced and passed to Armstrong who scored an excellent try under the posts . Connor Moss converted .
Turning round at Half-Time leading 7 – 5, the Lions and Tunbridge again continued their contest, with the Lions now up the slope . However, they were livelier than before and the game swung either way .
From a scrum near the Lions line a forward burst through a weak point in the defence and scored . This was converted .
The subsequent play was to put pressure on the Tunbridge line by successive forward drives, which were only held out by stern defence .
Tunbridge went further ahead from a penalty . From the re-start, Carl Thatcher followed-up very fast and nearly caught out the defence . The pack resumed the pressure on the Home line and scored a good pushover try from the scrum .
The tragedy occurred at the very end of the game when a pass to Moss was fumbled and a grateful Tunbridge forward touched the ball down under the posts . It was converted and that was the end of the game .
It was a tight game, played well in the conditions and a good contest between two willing teams

Reporter David Storrie

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