Cinderford 35 Sedgley Park 18 (From Prestwich and Whitefield Guide)

Cinderford 35 Sedgley Park 18

4:27pm Wednesday 16th December 2009

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IN a game billed as a first in more ways than one — the first meeting between the two sides and the first outing for the Tigers’ new pink and white away kit — it was the Gloucestershire side that emerged victorious.

The game began well for the visitors with Sedgley looking composed as they grabbed the lead in the third minute.

Hooker Richard Oxley danced his way inside the Cinderford 22 where he found Chris Wilkinson with a finely weighted pass.

Wilkinson took a good inside line to cross between the home posts for the opening try, converted by Steve Nutt.

On 16 minutes Sedgley worked their way down the right wing, from where Wilkinson whipped a quick ball the opposite way to Phil Jones, creating a three-to-one advantage on the opposite flank.

Cinderford transgressed and the referee signalled advantage to Sedgley, but they were not given the time to develop it and had to make do with a Nutt penalty kick.

However, Cinderford are no fools and hit back on 33 minutes when left wing Richard Winchie went over in the corner for the home side’s first try.

Their forwards, led by man mountain Michael Panaho, then resorted to some good old-fashioned intimidation, resulting in Sedgley’s Nick Flynn and Cinderford scrum-half Paul Knight having a “frank exchange of views”.

Unfortunately only Flynn was yellow-carded, and it proved to be a game-changing decision, as Sedgley disappeared under the full force of the Cinderford onslaught.

Tries for the Gloucestershire side followed on a regular basis in the second half, with the only bright point from a Sedgley perspective being a counter-attack from Nutt, who chipped ahead and collected his own kick before being stopped inside the Cinderford 22.

From there the ball was sent back the opposite way by Wilkinson into the hands of impressive wing Tom Blackwell, who rounded off a great move with a touchdown.

However, tries from Brett Turner, Knight, Adrian Duncan, and Panaho saw Cinderford grab the game by the scruff of the neck to claim a first win over Sedgley.

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