Another great performance by the Demons

The Demons resumed their league campaign with an away fixture against Westcombe Pk following a very credible 17-17 draw against a strong Sidcup 2's. That game resulted in good performances from Jake Taylor, Joe Gills, Tom Peryer and Martin Ryan who were rewarded with call ups to the 1st team which coupled with injuries left the Demons with a weakened team. Alex Shea stepped up to the plate and moved to loose head prop ( although muttering that coach Hubble had used up all his favours for the season), Adam "Parisse" Ferris stood in at No8 a position he hadn't played in since colts and with our resident Sumo Wrestlers Ben Crouch and Billy Wilson playing in the centre Dan Templeton came in at Full Back for the first time. With the team finally sorted it as hoped that there would be no further disruptions but at the first scrum hooker Tyler Roberts injured his neck and up stepped "wee" Lee Kernott ( I hooked at School). All these changes in players and positions was another example of the team spirit that has been developing in the demons. Tom Mothersole opened the scoring with two well taken penalties and then a well taken interception try by Kai Lewes converted by Tom Mothersole gave the team great confidence. Just as it looked like Park were struggling a catch and drive from the lineout 10 metres out from the Demons try line saw the gap closed to 13-7. Tom Ball although playing with a rib injury was leading from the front and good tackling from Shea, Curley and especially big Ben Crouch kept the home team on the back foot until halftime.
The half time talk was all about pressuring their lineout and offloading out of the tackle . This resulted in Jamie "Birdy" Clifford stealing a lineout and our forwards inter padding effectively and keeping up the pressure however it was against the run of play that Park scored first after the break closing the score to 13-12.Darts then moved up a gear and started to control the tempo of the game using their strong runners Kernott, Wilson and Crouch to create holes in the Park defence for Curley, NGH and Templeton to exploit. This pressure ended up with Curley crashing over for a try which was again converted by Mothersole to extend the lead to 20-12. Not to be outdone Park hit back and scored a good try of their own to reduce the gap again to one point. 20-19. Although the score was close the game was being controlled by the Demons who created an overlap which gave Ferris the chance to score in the corner. The conversion was tough and only narrowly missed by Mothersole. 25-19. The last quarter belonged to Darts as they continued to apply pressure looking for another score which finally came through another penalty from Mothersole. Final score 28-19.
The commitment form the Demons was immense which comes from training and team spirit which is bringing the players together. There were several contenders for man of the match including Jamie Clifford who ruled the lineout, Craig Curley who tackled like a true demon and Alex Shea who gave a fantastic impersonation of Jason Leonard but it was Lee Kernott who was outstanding throughout and took the award.