FRFC 34 Medway 33

Regular readers may remember that I likened supporting Folkestone to a roller coaster ride and for the second consecutive Saturday the Stones won a match by one point. Last week it was Charlton Park in a friendly and today it was Medway in the first league game of the season. Medway have been identified as a team with a chance of promotion this season so if Folkestone are going to join the promotion race this was a key match. The visitors are a strong hard running team and during this match they gave everything they could, right up to the last seconds of the match. When the ref blew for time there was a massive collective “PHEW” from the home support as they searched for their heart attack tablets. It wasn’t a game full of classic rugby but it certainly was a thriller.
Club chairman, Andy Dagger, welcomed Eurotunnel representatives who are sponsoring the club and also the Folkestone Rugby Academy which is a joint operation between the club and Folkestone Academy. The initiative has seen Darren Molloy join the club as it’s new coach. He couldn’t attend today’s game as he had been invited to play for London Wasps Legends in a charity match on Guernsey. Mr Dagger also thanked the Folkestone Leas Lift Company represented by Ms Robyn Schafer, for sponsoring the match ball. She presented the ball to skipper, Richard Lama, who stole a cheeky kiss.
And so to the game, Medway declared their intent with an early penalty. 0-3.
Folkestone restarted down the left wing with Tom Johnson showing electric pace as he left defenders wondering where he had gone and on 4 minutes he put the home team on the score-board. Seyhan Fell added the conversion. 7-3.
2 minutes later and Fell was pulled down by a high tackle. He shook himself down and hit the penalty kick between the posts. 10-3.
A mixture of bad defence and good driving and supporting by Medway cut the deficit with a fine score. 10-8. Minutes later the home support started to worry when Medway were in again, this time with a drive down the middle of the pitch. Their ball carrying and support play was perfect and they deservedly took the lead with a converted try. 10-15.
Johnson again showed his pace and power down the wing getting the home team deep into Medway territory. The ball went to David Baxter who further penetrated the Medway defence before offloading to New Zealander, Richard Puddy who powered his way over the line. Fell added the conversion. 17-15.
The half time interval gave the teams and supporters a chance to get their breath back. The match had been played at a ferocious pace on a warm September afternoon. In the first 10 minutes of the second half Folkestone appeared to be getting the upper hand. My friend Schofield, who knows about these things, felt the visitors were weakening. I felt the same and we were oh-so-wrong. But just to confirm our thoughts it was Folkestone who scored first with Richard Lama grabbing a try, again converted by Fell. 24-15. The teams then exchanged penalties taking the score to 27-18. And then Medway showed how wrong Mr Schofield and I were (not for the first time). They battered their way down the left wing to score another converted try. 27-25.
My heartbeat was going crazy in the last 10 minutes as both teams looked for the decisive score. Frankly it could have gone either way but it went to the Stones when Jack McMurray seized on some loose Medway play hacking the ball down the pitch rolling toward the tryline. He chased it but was going to be second to the visiting defence only for Jon Morton to sprint down the pitch, overtaking everybody to touch down. Fell kept his perfect record with a sixth successful kick. 34-28.
With the ref looking at his watch Medway again mounted an excellent attack to score a try to get within 1 point of Folkestone. It was a difficult conversion kick with a lot of pressure on the kicker. If he scored, Medway would win. The home support willed the ball to veer off left of the posts and the ref blew the final whistle.
34-33 to Folkestone with both teams earning a bonus point for scoring 4 tries. Medway will be happy with the second bonus point for being within 7 points of Folkestone but they came off the pitch knowing they could have won.
Folkestone had to dig deep to earn this win. But there were worrying periods when they seemed to relax allowing Medway to get up a head of steam. The Folkestone pack worked hard with Puddy, McMurray, Flatman and Baxter making hard yardage while in the back row Rob Hudson continues to earn applause from the home support with his feisty play. In the backs Johnson, Lama and Brooks took the eye and we saw another terrific performance from Jon Morton. Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt might have had problems racing him to that all important touchdown just when his team needed it. But Folkestone’s Man of the Match for me was Seyhan Fell. His kicks were superb and he was constantly looking to join the backs line. A fine match winning performance from the loveable madman.
On Saturday Folkestone drive up theM20 to play Ashford. Get away from the television and support these lads. But don’t forget your tablets!

Squad:

R Lama, M Roots, R Puddy, P Hodges, W Massey, J McMurray, B Flatman, R Hudson, M Krizanek, D Baxter, M Murray, J Kopfriva, T Johnson, O Brooks, J Morton, B Page, S Fell, B Brooks

Other London SE3 results today:

Bromley 18 Maidstone 7
Crowborough 20 Ashford 7
Eastbourne 5 Sheppey 13
Horsham 24 Park House 5
Uckfield 70 Crawley 0