The 2nd's just come up short against Medway

The Lions fielded a team similar to the side that travelled and performed well against Maidstone last weekend. With at least half of the side playing their first season of senior rugby they did not disappoint showing their grit and determination to play at this level.

Throughout the 80 minutes both sides were fairly evenly matched and it was clear that the result would be a close one.

During the first passages of play the Lions found themselves under immense defensive pressure from a determined and disciplined Medway pack, however the defence stood firm. In poor conditions where mistakes were being made by both sides, Deal conceded a number of penalties and put themselves under unnecessary pressure. Medway capitalised on this ill-discipline and used their lineout to engineer a try, which was converted.

Deal continued to leak penalties through their lack of discipline, and this eventually resulted in the referee going to his pocket and showing the yellow card to the Deal tight head prop. Down to 14 men Deal ‘s spirit and determination came to the front and they put pressure on the Medway defence creating two kickable penalties, which Stuart Adcock put over with ease.

At half-time the Medway were just edging a 7-6 advantage but Deal showed much better discipline and continued to put pressure on Medway who started to make mistakes and concede penalties. Five minutes into the second half Adcock converted his third penalty of the game and Deal got ahead 9-6. From there on it was a game of pure graft from both sides, with all 30 players trying to play the conditions in their favour.
With 10 minutes remaining Medway kicked for a lineout deep in the Deal 22. After a clean take in the lineout , the maul was set and the try was scored, 12-9 Medway.

Unfortunately the Lions couldn’t come back from this and the final whistle blew.

Man of the match goes to Jon Stabler after an outstanding performance at number 8.