Over the Bridge
If matches were based on possession and territory
alone than Newbridge would have won this fixture hands down. But this
gritty Caerphilly team showed patience and guile to hold the home
team at bay for 75% of this league encounter before unleashing and
capitalising on their chances in the last quarter of the match.
Newbridge went ahead courtesy of a Sean Thomas penalty after just
three minutes. Breaking through the centre from the kick off, they
found themselves in front of goal when Caerphilly entered a ruck from
the wrong side, gifting the home side an early score.
6 minutes later Thomas's boot was on the go again. Awarded an attacking
penalty on the half way line, Caerphilly were guilty of taking matters
into their own hands, as Newbridge knocked the ball out of hands.
The resultant reversal gave the home side an eventual lineout on the
Caerphilly 22. With the attack going nowhere, a knock on from the
home side gave the Castletown men a relieving scrum. Picking up from
the base, Sam Feehan was adjudged to have held too long on the floor,
gifting Thomas another shot at goal.
Newbridge just failed to capitalise as they won a scrum against the
head on their 10mtr line after 10 minutes. Catching the Caerphilly
defense off guard, they took the attack to the visitors 22, failing
to release the ball in time for referee Gareth Symmonds. The home
side had to wait until the 20th minute before pulling further ahead,
Thomas slotting the ball between the posts again.
It took just 5 minutes of the second half before Newbridge were gifted
another penalty, Thomas just failing on this occasion. Caerphilly
had rarely been in the games, spending most of their time defending
between their owns 22 and 10mtr line. The visitors were guilty of
poor positional kicks, handing away possession to the home side on
numerous occasions.
The worm turned however on 65 minutes, a couple of tactical substitutions
gave the back line the shape required. Suddenly the ball was being
kept in hand, and the positional kicks started hitting their mark.
Rob Philips finally crossed the lien for the visitors on 68 minutes
as Caerphilly turned a Newbridge scrum deep into their own half. Breaking,
the ball found it's way back into the hands of captain Phillips, who
drove through a couple of Newbridge tacklers to score under the posts.
Nathan Gittings stepped up to land another 2 points, leaving the visitors
trailing by just 2 points.
A resurgent Caerphilly team began to exert pressure on the home side,
who appeared to have no reply to the breaking backs. During another
attack on 75 minutes, Chris Thomas attempted to break through the
centre, only to be caught high by a Newbridge defender. Gittings stepped
up to gleefully accept the shot at goal, putting the third place side
into the lead for the first time.
Caerphilly did well to keep the desperate Newbridge away from the
goal area, 5 minutes into injury time winning another penalty in front
of goal, as newbridge came over the top of a ruck, desperately trying
to keep the visitors out. Gittings stepped up again, slotting the
penalty between the uprights.
The visitors kept the raging home side at bay for the remaining 3
minutes, jubilant at the final whistle to have completed what seemed
to be "Mission Impossible" at the break.
The Welsh Amateurs (Clubs) take on their Scottish counterparts at
Virginia Park this Friday afternoon (Kick off 2.30pm), with Caerphilly's
next Asda Welsh League fixture scheduled for the Saturday 16th February,
making the short trip to neighbors to Fleur de Lys, Kick off 2.30pm.
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