Another good away win at Ashford for Darts

With a delayed chilly start it took a little while for Darts to break free affter the convincing win last week hoping to to continue their winning run on the road. In all the game was a bit of a penalty fest with outbreaks of rugby in between. Darts started brightly moving the bal wide early on but without any real threat. The Ashford defence held firm and it was clear they were fired up for the challenge. Unfortunately errors by Darts kept us scoreless and a normally pristine lineout didn't really click. Chances were there but not capitislised upon until the poacher Harvey Whyte nicked an interception and scampered in from almost halfway. Jonny converted . 0-7. Darts didnt really hit the heights and let Ashford back in the game. Some poor ball retention led to Ashford getting into our half for the first time after 20 minutes, a quick penalty got behind us and recycled ball led to a well raken try. 7 - 7. Ashford then managed to get more into the match and put ud=s under pressure but our defence was excellent on our own line and we held out and the Ashford missed a penalty. The pattern of the half continued with no clear cut chances . Darts certainly didn't work out the home team's lineout defence and we conceded free kicks and penalties to stop any continuity in our play. All in all a forgettable half with too many penalties and no great cohesive play
The second half started with Darts going straight onto attack and a deft kick from Jarlath bounced nicely into Elliot's hands, we werThe pkethora of penalties Darts conceded prevented any flow but the defence always seemed under control and comfortable and even held the ball up over the line. Again a period of penalty then lineout ensued but then Ted started making big holes in the home defence with some heavy duty runs and Miles was becoming a real nuisance with his packy breaks. At last the lineout egan to click with Lewis Potter leaping high and after a collision in midfield 2 crisp passes led to Cappa flying over the line. 7-19. This was the confidence that Darts needed and was the start of a quick fire triple score. The kick off return from Smiler took play well past the half way line and quick ball and a dummy from Jarlath who then gave an inside pass to Jake who sprinted in from 35 metres . Jonny agan converted. 7-26. Again directly for m the kick off we take
the ball and win a penalty and kick for touch. We win the lineout and with Ted hitting up strongly the ball was quickly recycled to Jonny flying down the wing beating mutiple defenders to score in the corner. 7-31. Ashfords replacement prop who was an excellent addition to their team was adjudged to have hit Potts high and red carded which looked slightly harsh but todays laws have to be enforced. The last 8 minutes should have yielded more scores but we weren't clinical enough. A match that struggled to get going due to the high penalty count and injury breaks and we need to wirk on our discipline. On the bright side this was an away bonus point win and both Jarlath and Smiler back after long lay offs.