Last Saturday the London South East 2 league threw up several surprising results, and Crowborough added to that confusion with their visit to Ashford. Following their last outing to Charlton Park when they came within two minutes of taking all four points the side could be forgiven for their developing confidence and pride.
Perhaps they were over confident for this bottom of the table clash, or perhaps the journey was still in their legs as the game kicked off, but few would have expected the lacklustre performance that would unfold.
Ashford started the stronger, belying their basement position. They played to their strength of a robust front five , who ploughed down the middle at speed, off-loading in contact to the fast arriving support. Only ‘Boro’s excellent defence work kept the home side from crossing the line.
Crowborough had difficulty obtaining quick meaningful possession during these encounters, with their normally efficient lineout producing uncontrolled possession that made the link to the backs somewhat of a lottery, often resulting in aimless kicks that set up attacking positions for the home side.
When ‘Boro did attempt to move the ball through their backs, who in recent games have demonstrated that when they are firing on all six cylinders they generally have the edge. But inexplicable lack of vision, determination, and communication meant that passes were often miss-directed, dropped, kicked away, or simply passed too early, relieving their opposite numbers from not having to commit to the tackle, and the final man with two or three defenders to beat.
During this period of hiatus Ashford ran in two tries, having engineered two well-constructed overlaps, taking the half time score to 12-0 with the next score being crucial to the outcome of the game.
Crowborough came out for the second half determined to redeem themselves, and upped the tempo of their game, a tactic that would surely test the resilience and fitness of the home pack.
Unfortunately neither side were assisted in their endeavour to play expansive rugby as the official, appeared more concerned about the pedantic application of the minutia of the “index “ page of the Law Book rather than allowing the 30 to play what was in front of him, with the result that this became a series of frustrating stops and starts, and a halt to any momentum, that ultimately saw two Ashford players seeing yellow.
With Ashford protecting their well deserved but unexpected lead, Crowborough entered the final quarter of the match with renewed vigour and when the forwards drove down the field led by Alex Purnell and Callum Main, the backs at last committed their opposite numbers before the pass, finally putting away Bertie Boast to cross the white wash. The kick was pulled wide.12-5
With points on the board and a way forward identified, the final minutes were all ‘Boro, but in the vernacular it was all “too little too late” and Crowborough had to settle for yet another losing bonus point to remain in 10th position, and with the prospect of two serious training sessions this week, before their encounter at Steel Cross against 6th placed Dartfordians fresh from their demolition of Beccahamians last Saturday.