Impressive win for Gannets against top of the league

The Gannets returned to their traditional banana pitch on a grey Saturday afternoon and came away with a 20 points to nil win against a side who began the day top of the Shepherd Neame Dragon 4 West table. The victory was built on the foundation of a committed display by each player who pulled on the shirt, producing a strong defensive display and creating opportunities to get points on the board. Further positives were the ball carrying of Michael Percival, Harry Redsell and Martin Archer and the reduced penalty count in comparison to recent weeks.

Gravesend won the toss and elected to play up the hill in first half. Old Wills chose to kick off providing early ball to the Gravesend pack. The ball was secured but the clearance kick from Ben Baker was charged down by Old Wills gifting them a five metre scrum in the first couple of minutes. The defence by Gravesend to keep out the opposition pack set the tone for the rest of the match.

Gravesend were then able to improve their field position as a result of a couple of penalties kicked to touch and began to create chances to score in the opposition 22. Good communication and execution throughout the team led to ground being gained by forwards and backs, however the team were not able to get over the tryline. Martin Taylor insists that he was denied a try scoring opportunity when Ben Baker was allegedly held up over the line, but the Gravesend pack continued to provide decent ball for the team to play with. Credit must also go the Old Wills defence who protected their line effectively meaning that the first score came from the boot with Gravesend kicking a penalty.

Following the restart the Gravesend pack and backline made good ground again to maintain the pressure on the opposition line. That pressure was rewarded when Gravesend eventually grounded the ball over the tryline thanks to Michael Percival. The conversion was missed.

There were further opportunities for Gravesend to score in the first half but unfortunately these were spurned by the occasional pass not going to hand. Shortly before half time the Old Wills openside was binned, possibly as a result of his sides penalty count getting them on the wrong side of the referee.

At half time Gravesend were able to make a couple of changes, introducing James Semphill and Liam McGany for Harry Redsell and Sam Holden.

Credit must go to the Gravesend scrum who put constant pressure on the opposition pack and won good ball against the head throughout the match. They succeeded in making life difficult for the Old Wills backline to get moving forward and gave a great platform for the side in defence and attack. It was from good forward ball that Gravesend were able to move the ball wide within the opposition 22 to create space in the corner for Oliver Karabardak to add to his try tally for the season. The conversion was made from close to the touchline from the inconsistent boot of Ben Baker.

Shortly after, Gravesend secured good ball in the opposition 22 again and were able to release Steve Wootten to touch down in the corner to continue his impressive try scoring form this season to make the score 20-0. Unfortunately Steve injured his hamstring in the act of scoring and was replaced by Craig, continuing his comeback from injury.

The second half continued with good carrying by the backs, notably Darius and Craig, as well as the forwards however the defence of both sides continued to be of a consistently high standard meaning that there was to be no further score once both sides had returned to 15 a side.

The spirit and commitment shown by every player was demonstrated by Ian Shuttlewood, moved this week to the less familiar position of centre, who succeeded in stripping the opposing back row to thwart a promising looking attack by the Old Wills flanker.

With 10 minutes remaining Harry Redsell returned to the field to provide an extra ball carrier as Gravesend sought to maintain the shut out, as both defences continued to frustrate their opposing attacks. Old Wills did have an opportunity close to the end of the game to get on the score board from a long distance penalty, but unfortunately for them the kick missed to the side of the post.

At full time the Gravesend team were rightly proud of the result and their performance, and especially pleased to arrest the run of defeats that they had been experiencing. The team now have a week off before the league campaign continues at home against Sevenoaks, another side flying high in the league who should provide a competitive fixture of the team if they can carry forward the positives from this performance, particularly the reduced penalty count.