On the penultimate weekend of the season, Crowborough welcomed promotion chasing Charlton Park to Steel Cross, hoping to give a better account of themselves, than in the corresponding fixture earlier in the season when Crowborough lost 76-7.
Chris Yates opened the scoring with a well taken penalty, and for thirty five minutes that remained the score as both sides contested what in fairness was a fairly scrappy affair, with dropped balls and misdirected passes preventing the lines from being crossed. Then, with half time approaching the game suddenly came alive, as Park found space to stroll in a try next to the posts that amazingly went unconverted. 3-5
From the restart a ruck was formed on halfway and when the ball popped out it was Ben Searle who dummied to the open, before scampering around the blind side and outstripped the cover to score a well taken try out wide. The kick by Chris Yates just fell short. 8-5
With seconds to go before half time Park again exploited some sloppy defending to score a converted try taking the half time score to 8-12.
The second half was more predictable as Park got their act together and once Ben Searle left the field with an injured shoulder, the scores flowed with Park’s excellent #9 exploiting the space vacated by Searle, contributing 15 of the additional 38 points, to Crowborough’s 7, the latter courtesy of a Gary Steven’s try and Yates’s conversion. 15-50.
Despite this bonus point win, Park’s promotion hopes will depend upon results elsewhere. In a strange quirk of fates, all eyes will be focused on the outcome at Bromley next week with the result having an impact on both ends of the table.
Despite Medway’s defeat of Dartfordians, the runners up spot is Old Colfeians to lose, and at the basement level of the table, barring a miracle at Bromley, the home side looks set to join ‘Boro in London League Div 3 next season.