DOVER 14 v Wimbledon 45
Dover were in buoyant mood after four straights win but unfortunately Wimbledon brought them back down to earth with a bump at Crabble on Saturday. Influential captain Dale Tonks was missing through injury, Lee Ambrose taking on the role as Dover took to the pitch on yet another sunny afternoon.
Aaron Cooper
Wimbledon kicked off playing down the Crabble slope with the sun on their backs and within two minutes opened the scoring. Wimbledon threw everything at Dover from the start and was awarded an early scrum from which they produced quick ball, stopped initially in midfield Dover had no answer to the speed in which the ball was moved wide for the visitors to score in the corner, the conversion missed Dover looked shell shocked behind 5-0. Wimbledon again dominated from the restart as Dover appeared to be a yard of the pace. In the early exchanges the normally dominant scrum was creaking and it was from one of these that saw Wimbledon gain their second try after 10 minutes after a succession of missed tackles, the try converted Dover now trailed by 12-0. Wimbledon added more within minutes of the restart. Dover did make the tackle but were caught offside on halfway the referee played advantage which Wimbledon appeared to kick away but with Dover back in possession the official pulled play back for the penalty unfortunately for Dover he had forgotten were the offence took place and awarded the penalty 10 metres further up the pitch which made the shot at goal far easier as Dover slipped 15-0 behind. Wimbledon were playing with true professionalism pouncing on any Dover mistake and moved further ahead after 20 minutes, a succession of missed tackles saw Dover's defence scrambling conceded only their second penalty of the afternoon 5 metres from the Dover line. As Dover try to organise a quick tap saw their flanker cross Dover's line for another converted try 22-0. Things did improve for Dover as they brought on the old guard of Robinson & Hewer to steady the rocking ship. At last Dover started to move forward, Richard Eldridge giving Dover some territory from his boot. Dover won only their second lineout of the day from 10 metres out and the pack combined to push closer to the line. Three consecutive penalties 5 metres out Dover continued to push, Hewer looked to of crossed the line but was stopped from grounding the ball. Wimbledon's defence was rock solid and when Dover did gain the upper hand they would slow play down or deliberately kill the ball, the referee did award the penalties but after eight offences in 12 minutes surely a card would have prevented it from continuing. Dover limped towards half-time having managed to stem the purple tide but with no points of their own.
Dover had come back from similar margins already this season but this was not to be. As Phillips got the second half under way there was some hope as Dover took play down to the bottom left hand corner looking for their first score but Wimbledon were more than equal and when they stole possession moved swiftly up the pitch to score their fourth try as Dover slipped 29-0 behind this was looking like a whitewash. Dover brought on Pat Sykes for Sam McNamara but even that didn't stem the flow. Wimbledon were dominating all areas except the scrum and as in the first half were happy to concede penalties to slow any Dover attack down. This frustrated the home side although the referee did sin bin the Wimbledon prop for stamping on a Dover player at a ruck an offence which on another day seen the colour of the card red. Although down to 14 Wimbledon continued to play their game and added to their tally with a fifth try, converted 36-0 all Dover had to play for was pride. Pleasingly Dover did muster some pride and again took play to within 5 metres of the Wimbledon line again they were penalised their 21st offence which again saw one of their players sin binned. Dover fought on although initially choosing wrong options as the pieced together four phases of play prop Aaron Cooper found himself in the backline as he danced through the Wimbledon defence to score under the posts, Richard Eldridge added the conversion 36-7. Dover now had the upper hand and were winning plenty of ball and crossed the line again within minutes this time Pat Sykes crashing over, Eldridge again adding the extras to take the score to 36-14. Unfortunately that was Dover's last points of the afternoon; Wimbledon added 3 late penalties to take the final score to 45-14.
On the day Dover were beaten by a better team and there is no shame in that. Richard Eldridge won the man of the match for Dover for his tireless efforts in both defence and attack. Dover will dust themselves off over the week in preparation for another tough game away at Basingstoke this Saturday.
Richard Eldridge
TEAM:
COOPER, AMBROSE (Capt.), LUCAS, BLOWERS, SLUMAN, FOSTER, CHANDLER, HAYWARD, SEDGWICK, PHILLIPS, McNAMARA, L TONKS, N ANNAKIE, TOWNLEY, ELDRIDGE, HEWER, ROBINSON & SYKES.
SCORERS:
TRIES: AARON COOPER, PAT SYKES
CONVERSIONS: ELDRIDGE x 2