Cheshunt Win at Barnet

It didn't take fly-half, Danny Cansick, long to work out the Barnet defence. A dummy-pass and grubber through was sufficient to find a gap in the defensive line and the Jester showed good determination to follow his own kick and get over for the score.

From the re-start, second-row, Big Rob Fairburn went on the 'hoof' making close to thirty five metres before being dragged to the turf and into touch. Determined to maintain the momentum, his second-row partner, Sean Chinn, got ahead of his man in the line-out to steal the ball leaving the half-backs to weave their magic. A return line from inside centre, Scott Drew, pinned the defence providing the gap for outside centre, Scott Glynn, to break through and score under the posts - that's more like it !

There was no sign of the soft turnovers that had plagued Cheshunt the
previous week in fact the opposite. A strong drive from Captain and
back-row, Tom Cooper, out of the Cheshunt 22m area left Barnet wondering
what more they would have to do as play progressed rapidly up the pitch. An
inter-change through midfield got Cheshunt within five metres but
agonisingly the Tank's off-load to centre, Alex Wistow, was knocked-on.
Cheshunt turned Barnet over at the following scrum and then went wide where quick-hands found winger, Kaz Topham, giving him a straightforward run in for the score. Cheshunt finished the half 17 - 3 up.

Barnet tightened up their defence in the second-half and, with a couple of penalty's providing scoring opportunity, closed the gap to eight before the green and whites re-focused.

Cheshunt's fourth came from a series of strong forward-drives out of the
Cheshunt half and to within thirty metres of the Barnet line. The ball was moved into midfield where winger, Connor Latour, popped up on the crash. The Groin still had some work to do but with his power and pace the full-back had little chance.

Cheshunt rung the changes from the bench in the last fifteen minutes but
still showed the desire for one more score despite being down to fourteen. A delightful chip over the heads of the Barnet rush-defence from Louis Mulholland, now playing at fly-half, was scooped up by the Groin and he was in again under the posts. A simple kick for Dutch (3 from 5) and Cheshunt were heading for the changing rooms satisfied with a job well done.

It was a much improved performance for Cheshunt, throughout the team, with notably strong performances at the break-down and in the tackle from back-row, Mike Hendersen, second-row Cameron Frazer, prop, Brad Hogan and hooker, Josh Chesterman, alongside some good scrummage work from props Matt Hennessey and Mad Max Longstaff when they came on - well done guys.

Many thanks to Barnet in what was a good game, played in the right spirit and well refereed. Good luck to them next season.

Dave Mulholland