Narrow loss for Demons in top of the tble clash

Darts Demons faced Bromley in a top of the table clash with both teams having similar results so far this season. It was a great start from Darts with good focus and intensity with all the opening passages of play being held in Bromley's half. A Darts lineout from10 metres saw a great catch and drive but this was held up over the line. The set pieces were pretty even but another lineout in a similar position saw another good drive and it was Tom Tobin who went over for the opening try. 0-5. Darts took the restart and put the home side under pressure gain but a goo handling move from Bromley saw them open their scoring with a try against the run of play. 5-5. Tristan Demuth pulled a hamstring and was replaced by Ben Crouch and he made an immediate impact making a number of linebreaks along with his centre partner Billy Wilson. From one of these breaks he offloaded to Alex Shea who had 50 metres to run to the line but unfortunately the hamstring sniper got him just short of the line to save Bromley from conceding a second try. This was the pattern of the first half with Darts having a lot od ball and pressure but being unable to get points on the board and just to rub salt into the wounds it was Bromley who came up with their second try to take a half time lead 10-5.
It was clear that at half time the team needed to score first and keep up the pressure to stop the match moving away from them. George Ellard replaced the injured Alex Shea but a couple of missed tackles saw the home side score a third try to extend the led to 15-5. While in the first half the bounce went with Darts the second half was the opposite and whereas Darts didn't take advantage of their superiority in the first half Bromley certainly made the most of it in the second and scored their fourth try to extend their lead to 20-5. Darts could now sink or swim and they certainly showed the spirit form all matches so far this season and came back into the game, Nathanial Grant Hines having been frustrated with a lack of ball on the wing gathered the ball at half way and embarked on a trademark Forest Gump run and left several Bromlet defenders in his wake to score a brilliant individual try. Dan " Jonny" Phillips stepped up and converted with a drop kick to close the gap to 20-12 This kick started darts into action and an urgency returned to their play. A strong run from opposite winger Tom Peryer pushed Darts deep into the Bromley half and a clearance kick from the home side only reached touch 10 metrs from the home line. A clean catch from skipper Tom ball saw the Darts pack rumbling forward to the line and it was Tom obin who dived over for his second try of the match. Dan Phillips again slotted over the drop kick conversion from the touchline to take the score to 20-19 with a few minutes remaining. Bromley managed to hold out to take the win in what was a high calibre match worthy of its top of the table billing. There were strong perfomances from Kai Lewes at fullback, Ben Crouch in the centre and Alex Vousden coming from 1st team prop to number 8 but man of the match went to NGH.
Sarts look forward to the return match against very good Bromley team.