Herts/Middlesex 1 17/01/2015

Cheshunt picked up another bonus point win on the road, with a good all round performance against basement side Haringey.
It didn’t take them long to get on the board, they were soon deep in the Haringey half after a penalty allowed them to kick down the line. Josh Wilcocks supplied ball off the top and Dave Lever smashed through the first line of defence and drove forward, quickly supported by the pack, the maul sucked in the home team’s defenders, then Skipper Tom Claridge was able to cut through the remaining back line and around the full back to score under the posts, the conversion was added by Dan Saunders and C’s were 0-7 up after 5 minutes.
Wilcocks was next to threaten the line, when he crashed through, Tony Short tidied up loose ball and Marvin Brown came close to whitewash, but the visitors gave away a string of penalties at the breakdown and despite getting close to the line on several occasions, let Haringey off the hook, with unnecessary infringements.
For all the pressure they created, they were unable to add to their score, which buoyed the Haringey team and they became more comfortable on the ball, until Brown was again instrumental in getting C’s moving forward. This time the home side gave away a free kick, Claridge again made ground, his clever offload found Lewis Daymon, who in turn saw Lever in space out wide; he was able to shrug off some flimsy tackling near the line to get over in the corner to extend the lead to 0-12 after 25 minutes.
The front row of Short, Jake Phillips and Ollie Martines, were again enjoying themselves at the set piece and the Cheshunt lineout was functioning much better than in previous weeks. Wilcocks, Aydan Duligall and Dave Angell in the back row ruled the break down and Ryan Hussey and Brown were keen recipients of any ball that came there way and invariably made ground.
Following a set of scrums and penalties near the Haringey line, the ball was fed along the back line, full back Saunders picked his spot and waltzed through, converted by Lever, Cheshunt had a 0-19 advantage at the break.
Half backs Daymon and Claridge controlled the game and they soon combined in the second half to exploit room down the blind side, another clever offload from Claridge gave Declan Walker the chance to attack his wing, he burst through tackles and forced his way over to secure the bonus point, more extras from Saunders stretched the lead to 0-26.
The Haringey centres and full back all looked dangerous with the ball in hand, but got no change from Lever and Omid Amani in the Cheshunt midfield, debutant Hugh Tearle and Walker kept their wingers quiet and Saunders from full back was able to field any kicks down field, with plenty of time and often set up new Cheshunt attacks.
C’s emptied the bench, Charlie Bagley kept the pressure up in the front row, Billy Roberts’s fresh legs brought more speed into the back row and Adam Chantler brought more physicality to the back division. Roberts was next on the score sheet when he broke form halfway, he easily outpaced the covering defence, rounded the full back and touched down to get to 0-31.
Despite creating more chances, Cheshunt were unable to add to their total, they felt they had scored but the referee deemed the ball to be held up, then play was called back when Chantler had got over the line for crossing in the centre. However, C’s were happy to get back to winning ways with a controlled performance in both attack and defence.
Next Saturday Cheshunt entertain Wisbech in Round 4 on the Junior Vase at Andrews Lane, the following week, Feltham are the visitors in the league

Short, Phillips, Martines, Brown, Hussey, Duligall, Wilcocks, Angell, Daymon, Claridge, Tearle, Amani, Laver, Walker, Saunders. Replacements – Bagley, Roberts, Chantler.