Tredegar home 27th Jan 2007
Croesyceiliog 24 Tredegar 33
After the 83 point hammering in the away fixture earlier in the season Croesy players needed to salvage a bit of pride in this fixture and despite the defeat nobody can argue that they certainly did that. In fact, most of the talk afterwards was that, if we had not made so many basic errors in the first half, we should have won the game.
There was a sense of anticipation in the club beforehand. Would the return of John Kerry as coach provide the spark the players needed? Or would the fact that Anthony Gardner was starting his first game in over a year at loose head, that Mark Smith and Paul Hicks were unavailable and Chris Williams has now left the club for Newport Saracens mean this was too great an ask?
Croesy certainly started the stronger and asked questions of the Tredegar defence early on but a mistake in midfield provided the visitors their first opportunity and they took it willingly, running in a try which they converted. They soon increased their lead with a penalty. Croesy hit back with a typical John Misljen long range try. The Tredegar centre chipped over Croesy's three-quarters but straight into Misljen's hands just inside his 22. In a flash he was outside his wing and racing up the touch line for a great score. Unfortunately that was Croesy's only score of the half but they gifted Tredegar another converted try and 2 penalties to turn around 23-5 down.
Misljen was replaced at half-time by Rhodri Davies after a recurrence of a groin injury.
As they had done in the first Croesy began the second half strongly. Matthew Entwistle broke through in midfield from deep in his half. He carried past half way and put in a clever chip ahead which was chased by the Croesy backs who caught and turned over the Tredegar full-back allowing Entwistle to pick up and dive over for a try which he converted. If the first 2 Croesy tries weren't good enough to watch the third was even more special. This time it was a solo effort from No. 8 Gavin Howells who picked up from the base of a scrum on his 22, left the opposition back row for dead, rounded the full back and raced away.
This brought Croesy back to within a converted try but unfortunately it was Tredegar who scored next with a converted try of their own. Croesy still weren't finished and a missed touch kick by Tredegar saw full back Matt Hiatt evade the defence and score Croesy's fourth try. Again Entwistle converted. Despite Croesy's best efforts they could not get the winning try and in the dying minutes Tredegar added another penalty to take them out of reach.
There was a marked improvement in Croesy's performance. This was largely due to the scrum which was more solid than it has been for some time. Anthony Gardner did everything that was asked of him and more and on the tight Justin Smith had his best game of the season showing the type of aggression that has been missing from his game of late. Jim Sargeant also had a storming game in the second row and Jake Nash also showed up well with some big hits and carries.
Following the game club coach Chris Garrett stood down and handed over the reins to John Kerry. The club would like to thank Chris for his untiring efforts over the past season and a half and wish him well in his coaching career.
On Saturday Croesy travel to Mountain Ash with whom we drew at home. If Croesy are to escape relegation this is one of the games they need to win. Following this Croesy play host to Cwmbran on Wednesday 7th Feb at Woodland Road in the annual Jack Walker Cup.
Croesy's team:
Anthony Gardner; Simon Jones; Justin Smith; Jim Sargeant; Richard Gibbins; Jake Nash; Paul Fisher; Gavin Howells; Ritchie Williams; Gavin Holmes; Stuart Fitzgerald; Matthew Entwistle; David Davies; John Misljen (Rhodri Davies 40 mins); Matthew Hiatt.
Unused subs: Carl Bigham; David Fozdick; Nathan Willis.
Scorers: tries John Misljen; Matthew Entwistle; Gavin Howells; Matthew Hiatt; cons Matthew Entwistle 2.