Match Report

W London II 34-34 Broadstairs

23/07/05 (Courtesy of Broadstairs Bulldogs)

Broadstairs came away from Middlesex with a draw but could so easily have lost after the Sharks missed a last minute conversion to leave both sides with a 34-34 draw.

 

Tom Longdon opened the scoring after 5 minutes when he regained his own chip-and-chase, shortly followed by a try from full-back Mark Cooper to give Bulldogs an early 10-0 lead.

 

Sharks bit into that lead a few moments later when an unconverted try reduced the deficit, before Rob Marks had a try disallowed for a foot in touch. But the lead was increased to 16-4 shortly before half-time when Chris Finneran scored under the posts.

 

West London came out fired up at the start of the 2nd half after making some substitutions, a luxury that the Bulldogs didn't have after travelling with a bare 13 players. Sharks quickly got 2 scores to get to 16-14. Broadstairs' lead was increased again after Johnny Ball raced 60 yards to score in the corner. Sharks got one back before another strong running try from Finneran gave Bulldogs a 10 point lead.

 

Again Sharks did not give in as their subs piled on the pressure and gave one of their forwards a hat-trick to reduce the lead to 4 points again. Bulldogs responded when Longdon got his 2nd try to take his personal points tally to 14 and the lead to 10 points with 10 minutes left.

 

This should have been enough to see out the victory but Sharks were not to lay down and quickly got one back to get to 30-34 before a last minute try tied the scores, but Bulldogs' luck was in as Sharks kicker sliced his attempt to draw the game at 34-34.