Southwold 18 Harlow 13: Much changed Wold grind out a deserved win
Southwold's Chris Aldous powers his way forward against Harlow Picture: LINDA CAYLEY - Credit: Archant
This was not a game for the rugby purists but it showed a different side to Wold's character as they ground out a deserved win.
With many regulars out injured the entire team had to be reshuffled and there were five call-ups from the development squad.
Callum Easton, Guy Blades and Callum Ball came in, as did Jamie Edwards and Dan Clark for their debuts.
A Luke Wade penalty on 10 minutes gave Wold the lead, only for Harlow to reply with a good try wide on the left wing five minutes later. The score was still 3-5 after 39 minutes, in what had been, up to that point, a pretty dull first half.
But suddenly the game burst into action following another Wade penalty which gave Wold a one-point lead.
You may also want to watch:
Then a high kick and chase saw Ritchie Thickett go over in the corner for the home side's first try and Wade slotted the conversion from the touchline for the extra two points.
The half-time whistle still did not come, however, and Harlow went straight back into Wold's half and kept the ball alive for fully five minutes more before earning a penalty in front of the posts which they duly kicked and the score was 13-8 at the break.
Most Read
- 1 Town's country park remains closed after woman's body discovered
- 2 Norwich takeaway's food poisoning complaint investigation closed
- 3 Drivers delivering for Amazon have hundreds of pounds of pay withheld
- 4 Boss puts Queen Anne family home up for sale for £1.325m
- 5 Suspected drink driver charged after police dog tracks down man hiding in a ditch
- 6 Peter Crouch drove to Yarmouth while on Norwich loan - and wasn't impressed
- 7 Woman cut from car after crash on A11
- 8 The Original Factory Shop set to open in Cromer
- 9 Prince Philip memorial erected in town park just a day after his death
- 10 EFL announce revised schedule to avoid Prince Philip funeral clash
The game could have gone either way after that, with Harlow having the wind advantage in the second half, but Wold put points on the board first when Cemil Duruk weaved his way over at pace for their second try, again wide on the right. This time Wade's conversion attempt came back off the post as the score moved to 18-8 in favour of the home side.
Harlow replied straight away with a try of their own beside the left-hand corner flag but the conversion fell short of the posts.
Despite having to battle back up the pitch after many Harlow clearing kicks, Wold managed to have the lion's share of both possession and territory and but for a couple of errors 10 metres out could have had at least one more try, if not two, as the makeshift side gained in confidence.
The 18-13 scoreline remained for the last 20 minutes as the home side put a painful defeat at Basildon last time out behind them.
Man of the match was Callum Easton who at hooker looked better and better as the game went on.
