Another strong performnce by the Demons

The Demons were due a home league fixture against Elthamians but due to their late cry off we picked up a great fixture against Southend 2nds. They play in National League 2 and the 2nds record of being unbeaten so far this season meant that this was going to be a very stern test and give an indication of how the Demons are developing this season under the leadership of Neil Hubble (and Paul Gills when he isn't sunning himself on the west coast of America) The normal late week changes resulted in James Matkins moving to full back with Sam Rowe moving at 9 from the Angels, in addition there was a welcome return to the back row by Ed Young. Tyler Roberts skippered the side with Tom Ball. The game started at a frantic pace with Darts controlling the set pieces and territory only to allow Southend to score the opening and take a 5-0 lead. From the restart Peter Essien made a great run and secured the ball back for the Demons anf following some excellent driving Lee Kernott crashed over and with the conversion successful from Bradley Roper it was 7-5 to Darts. The game started to settle down with the teams evenly matched and most of the match was being played in the middle of the park. A good touch kick from the Southend fly half found Darts take a quick lineout close to their 5metre line only for the clearance kick to be charged down by the visitors openside and touch down for their second try. 7-10. The Darts scrum was now dominating the larger Southend eight and giving good clean ball to the backs and from one such scrum booboo Crouch made a great run crashing through tackles and off loaded to sam Rowe who the fed Kenny Lee. Kenny resisted the opportunity to try a Fijian pass and remembered he is 6ft 5 inches and powered over to put darts back in front. 12-10. Darts seemed to have control of the game and after another fine forward drive Billy Wilson went over to stretch the lead to 17-10. The Southend restarts were causing Darts problems and this led to confusion among Darts allowing Southend to score another converted try to take the score to 17-15 to Darts at half time.
The Demons made a sluggish start to the 2nd half and playing up the slope let Southend play a good offloading game and this resulted in a good score which with the conversion gave the visitors a 22-17 lead. It was now down to the determination and team spirit of the team to try a claw their way back into the game with only 10 minutes remaining. Southend were pinned back in their own 22 defending well against a constant stream of Darts attacks. They finally cracked allowing Peter Essien to finish off a fine passing move by outstripping his opposite number to dive over and score. A valiant effort at the conversion by Bradley Roper went narrowly wide which may have given the Darts a famous win. A great game of rugby by two very good sides which could have gone either way and a draw probably the fairest result. The character shown by the Demons has been developing really well all season and they are becoming a more than competent side.