It didn\'t look good at the start again this week with one late cry off and yet again a player who had confirmed failing to turn up. This meant Essington had no second row to speak of once more. Mike Chandler and Martin Berry gainly volunteered to play there and actually had a superb game, the Essington scrum never going backwards, despite being up against a much bigger and experienced pack.
Things got much worse soon after kick off. Through a series of poorly missed tackles, Essington quickly found themselves 7 – 0 down.
The rest of the first half deteriorated into a series of feisty confrontations between both sides, missed tackles, dropped passes and very little rugby.
In the second half, Essington began to compete better at the breakdown and started to use their experienced centres Simon Farrow and Rob Matthews to gain a lot of ground and provide good ball for speedsters Lewis and Simon Hylton. Pressure began to tell and scrum half Paul Cowmeadow finally crossed the try line halfway through the second half. Further pressure led to three penalties, one of which was converted by Lewis Hylton to give Essington an 8 – 7 lead. Despite some pressure from Eccleshall, Essington managed to hold out to gain only their second win of the season. A good all round effort.
Man of the match went to hooker James Cowmeadow.