Match report courtesy of Martin Easton....

KC’s season fizzled out like a damp squib with a lame performance which saw them concede six tries,three in each half,but it was not all bad news as Newcastle (Staffs) also failed to pick up any points in their last fixture at Old Salts and as a result Kidder finished in ninth place in Mids 2 West (N) and they would certainly have settled for that at Christmas when the possibility of ending in the bottom two was a real concern
Right from the start the home side appeared to have a greater appetite for the game,clearly looking to run the ball at every opportunity,and they should have taken the lead after eight minutes when they had men to spare on the left but over elaborated and were unable to capitalise.However,only three minutes later they again created acres of space wide out left to enable their winger to outflank the cover defence and run around under the posts for the opening try which he converted himself.

It was pretty much one way traffic and it was no surprise when,with twenty five minutes played,Veseyans doubled their advantage.Using possession from a five metre lineout,they put the ball through the hands and although their centre was cut down just short of the line by a trademark Mike Protheroe tackle KC’s were powerless to prevent the hosts’ scrumhalf picking up the pieces to go over for a second try,again converted.

The visitors just could not get a foothold in the game and on the rare occasions they did manage to venture into V’s 22 good attacking positions were squandered by unforced errors and,in particular,despite the best efforts of Rhys Kay their inability to secure hardly any of their own lineout ball.A missed penalty to touch which went dead instead summed up their afternoon so far and when possession was coughed up again Veseyans launched another attack down the left before switching the ball inside to their No 7 who ran in unopposed for a third converted try which extended the lead to 21-0.

With halftime approaching KC’s at last put together their first spell of sustained pressure in Veseyan territory but could not breach a well organised defence and,all in all,it had been a very comfortable first forty minutes for the home side.

Encouraged by their late rally at the end of the first period,Kidder made a more purposeful start to the second half with a long raking kick to touch by scrumhalf Freddie Morgan putting them on the front foot and after five minutes a penetrating break by Protheroe in centre field got him in behind Veseyans’ defence.They scrambled back to drag him down on the ten metre line but he was able to offload to Morgan and it was then a straight foot race for the line.The scrumhalf was caught just short of the right corner but the referee deemed he had been brought down by an illegal no arms tackle and awarded a penalty try.Any hopes of a Kidder comeback were,however,quickly dashed as only four minutes later a lovely reverse pass out of the back of his hand by V’s flyhalf sent his winger under the posts for another seven pointer.

There was still half an hour left to play during which KC’s made a much better fist of things until the last five minutes when they conceded twice more.Firstly,they lost their own scrum ball and Veseyans’ scrumhalf took full advantage to weave his way over and then a wild blind pass gifted the ball to the hosts and a kick hoisted to the right corner was collected by the winger for an easy touchdown and the conversion with the last kick of the match concluded an afternoon which will not live long in the memories of Kidderminster supporters.. .