Derby triumph for Darts

4:46pm Tuesday 30th September 2008

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Dartfordians 21-20 Old Gravesendians

OLD Gravesendians were knocked from the top of Kent One after suffering their first defeat of the season at the hands of buoyant rivals Dartfordians.

The visitors welcomed back former captain Mark Lockwood at number eight, although various players were unavailable including Alex Cave, Mark Thompson, Rob McMillan, Mark Fenton-Smith, Phil Boyer and both Marcus and Dan D'Cunha.

To add to Old Gs' woes, Jonathan Fox was an early casualty when forced to leave the field with a back injury.

A reshuffled pack had second row Pat Croskerry on the flank, showing his versatility with a robust performance.

Dave Boyer, who scored two tries, had an excellent game at fullback in the absence of Marcus D'Cunha.

There was little quarter given in the early exchanges in what was to develop into a hard energy sapping game in warm sunny conditions.

The Darts' pack concentrated on making hard yards, supported by a tactical kicking game from their backs.

Old Gs tried to run the ball through their backs, but basically neither side looked like getting an early score as both defences were fairly unyielding.

On the half hour, Darts were penalised for collapsing a driving maul and Richard Oxtoby slotted a good penalty to open the scoring.

There then followed two tries in as many minutes.

The home side profited when a deft kick was badly dealt with by Old Gs' defence and Tony Mead of Darts was first to the ball to score.

He converted his own try to give the home side a 7-3 lead.

Immediately Old Gs struck back, the pack taking the ball up before releasing the backs.

Winger Ricky Harding forced his way through defenders to score.

The conversion was missed but Old Gs had the half-time advantage at 8-7.

Almost from the kick-off, Old Gs produced the best try of the game by some way.

Hodge made the initial break, but the ball went through most of the backs' hands before Matt Holdstock sent Boyer on a run to the line.

The move was started in Old Gs' half and was constructed against a determined and hard-tackling defence, all adding to its spectacular nature. The conversion was again missed, but Old Gs seemed to be riding high at 13-7.

From this point on, Old Gs lost the plot.

Their effort eased and Darts took full advantage.

The home pack drove up the middle in phase after phase, carefully protecting the ball before releasing their backs and putting Phil Delafosse over for the try.

This score was converted from near the touchline by Mead to restore Dartfordians' lead at 14-13.

Old Gs made a huge effort to come back but errors, wrong options and poor handling let them down at crucial moments.

They also conceded penalties too easily.

In contrast, the home side defended hard, used their possession well and waited for opportunities to arise.

From a lineout following a penalty, they put together an organised maul which took them all the way over the Old Gs line.

The try by Matt Edwards was converted by Mead, giving Darts a 21-13 lead.

To score twice in the last 10 minutes proved beyond Old Gs.

One last effort by the backs produced a very good try, but it was all too late.

Boyer started the move and Darts were stretched from one side of the pitch to the other.

Ricky Harding stormed past his marker and passed inside to the excellent Boyer.

His legs almost collapsing under him, and being quickly chased down by defenders, the full back had just enough in the tank to score.

Oxtoby's conversion brought the score to 21-20.

The final minutes had Darts in possession as they ran the clock down to claim a win that their overall contribution probably deserved.

There were no complaints from Old Gs.

Their second half effort was not good enough and they lost the tactical battle.

They will have a lot to ponder with two more hard games coming up in the next two weeks, against fourth-placed Ashford and the league leaders Cranbrook.