The Gannets made the not as long as you might think trip down to Sheppey to take on a team that had so far remained winless in this seasons campaign.Surely an easy win was on the cards for the on the crest of a wave fourth team boys? What they came up against was determined team of big 'orrible lumps that refused to take a backward step for large parts of this scrappy encounter.Ultimately they had enough quality to overcome their hosts but boy,were they made to work for the victory.

The Gees started the brighter and were asking the early questions of the home defence for the opening 10 minutes or so,setting up shop inside the Sheppey 22 with the odd handling error and fine defensive work keeping them from scoring.The Gannets weren't helped by a raft of self inflicted penalties that proceeded to march them back down the field.Couple with big running from the Sheppey forwards,the visitors were soon pegged back in front front of their own posts.The tackling from the Gees was solid but the sheer size of the home pack on the the hoof meant that despite the tackles,ground was being made towards the Gannets posts and an offload out of the tackle saw them touch down next to the posts for an early 5-0 lead.

The shellshocked Gees were soon back at the right end of the field,stringing together a few phases of half decent play with Jetski and Lloydy coming close to bothering the home line,but the temptation to force a pass that just wasn't on was just too great and the Sheppey centre pounced on a pass that sailed over Luke's head and raced pretty much the length of the field untouched to score.

As luck would have it,although ultimately it didn't really have any bearing on the result,Sheppey didn't possess a kicker and two kickable conversions were missed.This gave the Gannets a glimmer of hope and perhaps focused their minds on the task at hand as they set about reducing the defecit.

You could say that despite the scoreboard,yes there was a scoreboard this time,the Gannets were edging the game in terms of 'having more to offer'.Sheppey's gameplan was to smash it up the middle with their big runners which early on,they had success with.However,once they began to tire the Gannets began to turn the screw,winning the set scrums and moving the ball around with the reliably maniacal Gary Curran once again being the catalyst,running into people twice his size with no thought for his own personal safety.

It was in fact the Irishman that set up the Gannets reply by being clotheslined.The resulting penalty saw the Gees attacking the Sheppey line with Mayhem,of course losing the ball in the process.However Ben Baker was on hand to strip the stripper (?) and score a cheeky try.Somehow the man that couldn't miss few weeks ago cocked up one of the easier shots at goal a kicker of his quality will ever get and we went into the half at 10-5.

With a stern halftime 'what the 'ck are we playing at?' team talk over with,the Gannets went into the second period with their freezing cold peckers up.I probably don't need to tell you who scored next...but I will as the hungover Irishman smashed his way over from close range to touch the ball down in the vicinity of the line to level the scores.With double B off the field to make way for debutant Harry Richardson at 9 the kicking duties fell to Dan Grant who until this point had been largely redundant at fullback with play mostly taking place between the two packs.He made no mistake,the Gannets had the lead and Sheppey heads seemed to drop.

An injury to Paddy which rather unsurprisingly is what happens when you keep running into people like a lunatic,meant that BB rentered the fray and his kicking from hand kept Sheppey at bay and led the Gannets back down the field where they found themselves with an attacking line out at the 5.Ash's throw was catastrophic but not as catastrophic as the kick for clearance that was sliced high into the gloomy sky and bounced straight into the arms of Jetski,more of him in a minute,who outpaced the defence to score the killer try which Dan Grant once again slotted.

19-12 to the good the Gannets allowed themselves to relax and Sheppey threw everything they had into the last 10 but it was that man Jetski who was the star of this period as he collected a loose pass,beat 5,6,7,who knows how many players and raced away for a certain...and then fell over like Lloydy on ice.How we all laughed.But he wasn't done as he then picked up a yellow for a high tackle and an early shower.The Gannets comfortably repelled the last Sheppey raids and the win was theirs.A win that maybe should have been more comfortable on paper.But due to a deterimined and aggressive Sheppey pack they were made to work perhaps the hardest they have had to this season,certainly in the tackling department.

Of course we have certain points in the game that need highlighting firstly in the shape of Martin Riley and he is an unusual shape,who didn't take a backward step the whole game and even leapt like a 20 stone Salmon to receive a kickoff.Sam Taylor who caught everything that came his way in the lineouts,no mean feat when it's Ash throwing and put his body on the line,bringing down blokes twice his size.And Richard 'Dr Knockon' Mayhew, a man that carries the ball as if he's wearing boxing gloves,for his 4 at least,spills today.

Another home game next week with Tunbridge Wells the visitors.Will Sam Holden make it or will he spend the day in the company of bears again..not the gay variety he insists...

Until next time.....