Title & Tagline line by Andy McLellan
Match Report Courtesy of Martin Easton

The start of this much anticipated local derby was delayed by almost half an hour owing to the late arrival of the referee but when it eventually got underway KC’s,having won the toss, opted to take advantage of the slope and wind in the hope of establishing a lead in case the game was curtailed early for bad light.
They started brightly enough,clearly hoping to use the boot of fullback Andy McLellan to establish field position but on a couple of occasions in the early stages,having created an overlap,were guilty of kicking when the better option might have been to put the ball through the hands.Nevertheless,when Stourbridge lost possession from an attacking scrum on KC’s 22 McLellan punished them with a raking kick to fifteen metres out and Kidder pinched the throw to move the ball left to outside centre Arthur Morgan who shrugged off some despairing tackles to score near the posts and skipper Chris Pinner duly converted for an early 7-0 lead.
Stourbridge then began to grow into the game,again played in testing conditions,and although KC’s pack was giving them a hard time at the scrums their kicks were becoming increasingly aimless and the home side were looking to run the ball back at them whenever they could.Stour’s increasing threat was rewarded after twenty five minutes when Kidder’s backs were caught offside thirty metres out and the hosts’ fullback confidently slotted the penalty.
A good re-start kick by flyhalf Freddie Morgan gave KC’s chasing forwards the chance to put Stourbridge under pressure but another offside offence enabled them to clear and their centre then fielded a kick and made an incisive diagonal run which took play deep into Kidder’s 22 and a knock on gave the Lions a scrum at the left corner.Securing possession,Stour kicked high to the right corner and won the aerial challenge close to the line and with KC’s desperately trying to slow the ball down McLellan was yellow carded for being off his feet.The hosts No 15 kicked the penalty to reduce the arrears to 7-6 and with ten minutes of the half remaining Kidder’s game plan was beginning to unravel.
Worse was to follow as KC’s got on the wrong side of the ref and were penalised relentlessly,finding themselves defending a succession of five metre lineouts and scrums,and after being stretched across both sides of the pitch from the set pieces a well judged Stour kick to the right corner was safely gathered by their winger who crossed for an 11-7 interval lead.
A strangely out of sorts KC’s had not made the most of the elements in the first half and with Stourbridge doing the basics better they were going to have it all to do in the second forty minutes.At the re-start Arthur Morgan and right wing Josh Winfield twice combined well trying to run out of defence but Stourbridge continued to look dangerous with the ball in hand and after they had missed a long range penalty opportunity they exploited acres of space out wide on the left as Kidder found themselves short of numbers and their winger cantered over.The conversion attempt struck the near post but ahead 16-7 the hosts were now well in control.
Player coach McLellan was trying to lead by example but handling errors and refereeing decisions were strangling the visitors and midway through the half they fell further behind to another successful penalty kick by the Stour fullback.KC’s did eventually create a try scoring chance down the right hand side,only for the ref to blow his whistle and bring play back for a penalty to the visitors which was scant consolation when they had a clear advantage if they had been allowed to play on and to rub salt into their wounds McLellan’s kick to touch was controversially ruled to have crossed the touchline the wrong side of the corner flag.
As the clock ran down Kidder threw everything at the home side to try and snatch a losing bonus point but even when Stour’s No 3 was shown yellow for not releasing they still could not get over the line although the home support were amazed as anybody that they were not awarded a penalty try when they drove the Lions pack off their own ball at a five metre scrum under the posts but had to settle for a penalty,which came to nothing.
All in all, it was just one of those afternoons for KC’s – a frustratingly bad day at the office when almost nothing went right.Apart from the opening ten minutes and their general set scrum dominance they did not play well and were second best in most other aspects.The home side were good value for their win and the depressing near darkness and driving rain in which the match ended pretty well reflected Kidder’s mood.
They will be looking to get back on track next Saturday when they travel to Veseyans – KO 2.15 pm (hopefully).