Pre-Match
K's lost Callum (back) and Josh (illness) pre-match, and, despite missing another 10 players with illness, injuries and unavailability, fielded a squad of 23 for the visit of West Bridgford. Several were nursing knocks, under the weather with sickness and/or playing in unfamiliar positions:
George S
Dan O
Joel D
Liam S
Thomas H
Nathan S
Robert T
Wyatt
Alf O
Toby S
Will H
Oscar H
Max H
James H
Will M
Ollie M
Dylan G
Alf A
Joel S
Tom McD
Lawrence BP
Henry S
Dan W

Kudos to Rhys, Callum, and Jacob for coming to watch and supporting their teammates. Apologies if I missed anyone!

First Half
On another bitterly cold morning, K's kicked off the game. Unfortunately, a combination of the cold and running off to find spare boots meant the report only covers the main events this week - sorry!

Playing with the wind, K's missed tackles early, enabling West Bridgford to advance to the edge of the 22m. K's managed to clear their lines but good breaks from the backs brought WB back up the field. Good tackling from Dylan and Will H prevented any impact on the scoreboard. WB were enjoying much of the early possession but K's held them outside the 22m. A break from Will H launched K's up the field. Soon after, Will H was on hand to turnover the ball, feeding Alfie O, whose kick through was well chased by Max whose tackle pinned the visitors back. However, WB's impressive 10 made a(nother) good break through the middle but a good cover tackle from Toby prevented the score. Alfie O used the wind well to kick clear before a break from Thomas H was stopped just short. Again, the impressive WB fly half took the visitors deep into K's 22m, only for Wyatt to pop up at the last minute to clear the ball. Moments later, Ollie M was stopped just short. The following kick clear was short, pushed back by the wind. Max pressured the defender, who knocked-on and Will H was on hand to snaffle the ball and touch down under the posts, 7-0 with Alfie O slotting the kick.

The rest of the half was back and forth between the teams with neither able to score. K's felt they had left a couple of tries out there.

Second Half
The second half kicked off with K's playing into the wind. Again, the game was attritional, with neither side able to create clean-cut opportunities. It took probably 20 mins for the first score to register, a score by the impressive 10 who ran across the front of the entire K's defence before touching down in the corner, slotting his own score brilliantly from the touchline, 7-7.

A silly knock-on by K's from a WB kick clear gifted the visitors possession, from which they took full advantage, managing to cross the line from possession that K's should never have given them, 7-14. K's went down to 14 moments later as Alfred saw yellow, before an intelligent penalty goal extended WB's advantage to 7-17.

K's were somewhat in disarray, missing tackles they would normally make which, once again, WB's backs took advantage of to score again and record a good win, 7-22.

Post Match
MOTM was Thomas H - well played!

K's weren't at their best today but played with heart and spirit. We win or learn. Next match, away at Paviors.