Woodham Close In On Top Spot

Woodhams only 2nd home game of the season saw a thrilling end, securing 2 late tries to secure a 5 point bonus win. Woodham who started in a similar fashion to last week at Holt, aggressively protected & managed the ball putting Romford & GP under constant pressure. Even with this due to a try and the boot of the Romford Winger, Woodham once again this season had to come behind with Romford taking a 10-0 lead.

Early on in the game, Sammy Sharp was knocked out in contact which saw Liam Searles move into front row and Lewis Gilbert come on for his first run out following an injury.

Woodham then used what they had spent time working on Tuesday with Sarries back row Jackson Wray, and set up a great driving maul from a line out thrown right to the back, driven from the 22 metre line, Woodham rolled the maul over into the corner with number 8 David Bull touching down. A touch line conversion from Adam Brown saw the score 10-7.

Soon after another rolling maul presented the backs with clean quick ball from Ryan Gateson at 9. Adam Brown sold the 2 Romford centres the dummy and made his way over the line to the left hand side of the posts to which he converted to see Woodham leading 14-10.

Soon after the break, Romford scored a well worked try which was converted for 14-17 to Romford. A quick response from Woodham from the boot of Adam Brown to slot the penalty saw the score at 17-17 and heading into the final ten minutes. Liam Searles was then awarded a yellow card in Woodhams 22 very harshly, Romford's kicker once again stepped up and slotted the kick to make it 20-17 to Romford with Woodham down to 14 men.

Further late drama ensued, with Romford having a player carded for verbal to the referee. This gave Woodham further belief they could win. Lewis Gilbert, supported by Ollie Trigg and broke through the line with 3 minutes left on the clock and touch down behind the posts. The kick was converted again by Brown and saw Woodham winning 24-20.

Woodham showed their spirit to be title challengers this season and went hunting for another bonus point win, and rather than just seeing the clock down following a clean restart kick take by Greg Tighe, Lewis Gilbert who was a catalyst since when he come on broke the line, made his way to the half way line and tried to chip through, the kick was blocked but picked up by the running Woodham chasers and then went through a selection of Woodham hands to see Warren Duggan securing another try this season in the final moments to secure a last minute bonus point win. Adam Brown once again converted and Woodham secured another vital 5 point bonus win, to move up to 2nd in the league 6 points behind Diss with 2 games in hand.

Tony Woods said 'Adam Brown's boot really helped on Saturday. His kicking out of hand and at goal was great and something I hope continues for the rest of the season. It was great to be playing in front of our own crowd this week, it's been a while and I hope the fans keep coming out after Christmas as our 2 further games before Christmas are both 'away.

Warren Duggan who scored again on Saturday to keep his tally ticking over for the season said 'Their is great belief amongst the players this year and that has shown, something that we lost last season. We know we can beat anyone in this league and our last 2 games at Holt and Romford on Saturday shows we have the capability to stay switched on for 80 minutes to grind out results. This has alot to do with James Mihills pre-season sessions. It's great to see new players like Ross Noakes and returning players in Jake Rawinsky and Andy Williams making such a impact across the park. We are creating a lot of chances and I got myself a lot fitter in the summer so im getting round the park a lot more, meaning I'm there for the offloads. Like Saturday for the bonus point try and I hope my try scoring run continues.