A Blues victory they had to have!
The Newbury Blues faced Andover at home at Monks Lane on Saturday and, having given their fans the heebie jeebies in the middle of the match, took a proper victory 28:13.
In a very well attended match, and the second of the Club’s Christmas parties, the match started out very much in the control of the Blues, who romped to a converted try in the first 3 minutes courtesy of Jonny Lees and Captain Dan Thorne, playing in this match as Inside Centre (No. 12), and another 10 minutes later – by no-one was quite sure who but likely No. 3 Graham Stewart (the grandfather of the team!) but maybe Nos. 4 or 5 – again ably converted by Dan Thorne.
But the Blues allowed their dominance to ebb away just a bit, not helped by players spending time in the sin bin, and Andover gathered themselves. Andover’s Fly Half Matthew Ryan sensibly took 3 penalty points after 15 minutes to get Andover on the scoreboard and did the same again halfway through the first half. Andover topped off a good first half for them at the very end of the first 40 minutes to score a converted try. The score stood at 14:13, just in favour of the Blues.
The Blues presented a better start at the beginning of the second half, with Ashley Doel (assisted by brother Kyle, who took the tackles!) scoring a converted try after 10 minutes or so, but play was desperately slow and, in very less than good weather conditions, there were lots of small “oops!”. They asserted themselves more strongly in the final 15 minutes to take a converted try – a beauty by Jamie Futcher, capitalising on a break by Josh Bartlett – and properly win a match they should always have won.
The Blues are at home to a friendly match with Hungerford Town on Boxing Day – a great fun match kicking off at 12 noon – and travel away to Farnham on Saturday, 4th January. Come on you Blues!
Photos by kind permission of Redwater Images
