Telford, Away.....

First time to Telford, first round of a proper competition and the first time I have beaten Marrick to a ground, home or away, ever.

'Guinness for strength' the old advert said, Bov might disagree, couldn't lift the car keys this morning and had to be chauffeured by Jules, looking at the state of him frankly Jules wasn’t the only choice, any of the Wycherley's would have been safer behind the wheel, and I am including the dog.

Nice club Telford, warm welcome, surrounded by parkland, pitches circle a recently refurbished clubhouse and whilst the going was soft on the other tracks, the first team pitch was pristine.

Warm up done, 2 min silence observed immaculately by both sides pre-kick-off and with the rain looking like it won't see the first quarter out it is a glorious day for chasing an egg, once we had found one.

First Half, Evesham playing left to right and into the low sun.

Starting line up. 1. Tracey. 2. JSD. 3. Strong Tom. 4. Olly Neal. 5. Gentleman George. 6. Swiss Olly (interesting). 7. Crunchy. 8. BTM. 9. Mullen. 10. Jamie Ev. 11. Ears Pearce. 12. Wych. 13. Bretty (injury crisis cover). 14. Maximus (availability crisis cover) and 15. Rocky. Finishers this week Indie and Super-Ted

Even through Bovs eyes that looked like a decent line up, worth noting 3 lads way out of position and not their first choice of shirt but Swiss Olly, Bretty and Maximus happy to have a go and plug the gaps, all for the badge on the front.

H1

Evesham kick off, both sides sizing each other up for the first few minutes. First score to Evesham off a line out, ball secured, forwards drive and finished by BTM in the left corner. Good effort from Jamie to convert, just too far.

Five minutes later Evesham in again on the LHS, line out won, through the hands across the backs and finished by Jamie looping to the corner. Again too wide to slot the conversion. 0:10 to the visitors.

Evesham forwards working hard against a solid pack in black and yellow, truck up the middle draws the defence then through the hands to Bretty who went to check out the right corner, and over. 0:15. A back row forward in the centres is like a chimpanzee in a call centre, but needs must. Conversion missed but never by much.

JSD was leading the grind, a good steal saw him off on a ram raid up the middle, well tackled and he cried out as he landed under a couple of Telford forwards, not like JSD to make a sound, not from that end anyway and coaches rush on to assess the damage and decide where best to loop the Landrover cable to drag him to the edge. JSD made of sterner stuff however and he is back up before the kitchen sees and plate up one less.

Rocky solid at the back whether the ball was falling out of the sky or arriving tucked under an arm he stopped them all including a lovely covering tackle into touch.

H2

Telford team talk revved them up and the second half was an altogether tighter affair with Evesham held in their own half until the pressure eventually told and Telford muscled over in the right corner for a well deserved try. Telford kicker shared Jamie's niggles with the distance. 5:15.

Bit of a shift around to accommodate Indie and Super-Ted into the game. A series of line outs in Telford territory saw Eves secure the ball and truck it up through several phases before JSD headed for the right hand corner with plenty of support if required, it wasn't and he is over to close out the game. 5:20

Man of the Match : Crunchy for being everywhere with his usual work rate and appetite, instrumental in disrupting and securing so much ball for Evesham. Having said that, every single player should be proud of the performance today, they all stood up, shoulder to shoulder, played for each other and took on a quality side at their place to bring a 'W' back to Blind Lane. Decent mornings work fellas.

D.o.t.D : Shell Suit of Shame this week awarded to Bretty for doing all the hard work to catch the thing, sitting down the oppo and then forgetting to take the ball with him as he took off for the line. He has only been playing for 5 years, he will get it.

Thanks to Chad and all volunteers at Telford for such a welcome, a proper game that could have gone either way and warm hospitality post match. The mums were most impressed with the clubhouse and Marrick didn't spot that the Guinness came from a can.

Tour deposits trickling in, come on lads, let's make it easy for Ash.

Next week: On the road again, Tewkesbury (Away), Bov should be dressing himself again by then