With two games left to play and eight points adrift of National 3 London relegation safety, Basingstoke RFC will hope lady luck will finally smile upon them
The Down Grange side needed a stroke of luck on Saturday, but good play and pressure on visiting Dorking failed to turn into points.
While the 14-23 scoreline is a marked improvement on their 7-87 thrashing at the hands of the third-placed team, Basingstoke’s lack of points means that this weekend’s fixture could be make or break for them.
Within minutes of the opening whistle, Dorking took the lead from a penalty. Mike Goodall was able to bring the scores level with a penalty shortly after the restart.
The visitors got their first try after 15 minutes of play. A penalty was kicked into the corner and the resulting lineout led to a surge towards the line from the Dorking forwards.
The attack was shut down by a passionate Basingstoke defence, but two scrums five meters out resulted in the visitors crossing over twice. The first was held up, but the second resulted in a converted try.
Just before half time, ’Stoke added a further three points after Dorking were penalised on their own 22.
The second half started badly for ’Stoke and the visitors extended their lead. A high tackle from Basingstoke let Dorking add three points from the penalty.
And a series of attacking phases let the visitors cross the line for an unconverted try.
The 18-6 score line was reduced to 18-9 when Goodall converted his third penalty. A Dorking player was yellow-carded, reducing them to 14 men, but ’Stoke failed to capitalise.
A moment of ill-discipline led Matt Horne to take a swipe at a visiting player and his dismissal, reducing both sides to 14 men.
A quick-tap penalty shortly after caught Basingstoke napping and the visitors finished their scoring with an unconverted try.
But in the last minute, ’Stoke added a try when David Bates went blindside from a scrum passing out to Goodall, who sprinted to the 22. Before the tackle, he off-loaded to Andrew Humberstone, who touched down in the corner.
With the conversion signalling the final kick of the game, Ryan Trevaskis stepped up.
However, the ball was pulled just wide and ’Stoke were unable to take home a bonus point awarded to the losing side if they come within seven points of the winners.
’Stoke take on fourth placed Ampthill away in a crunch math on Saturday April 9.
