Match Report courtesy of Keith Skirving.....

The good sunny weather on Saturday was matched by Kidderminster’s work rate and performance playing away at Droitwich. Using the slight wind to their advantage in the first half Kidderminster pegged the hosts into their half for long periods of the first half through good tactical kicking from Andy McLellan.

Within 5 minutes of the start Kidderminster won a line out in the Droitwich 22 and drove the ball, in a well controlled maul, towards the home side’s line where it was momentarily held up before McLellan joined the maul and managed to ground the ball for a try which he converted to give Kidderminster a 7 – 0 lead.

Droitwich came back into he game and a good attacking run was rewarded after good handling when their left wing scored in the corner, after 10 minutes, an unconverted try to make the score 7 – 5. Kidderminster Carolians did not let this upset their pattern of play and from the re-start attacked well and kept the home side in their own half. Against the run of play Droitwich won a line out and moved the game well and their prop burst through a gap in the Kidderminster defence to score a converted try to make the score line 12 – 7 after 27 minutes.

Kidderminster Carolina’s heads did not drop and they were awarded a penalty which McLellan put the ball deep into the Droitwich 22. The line out was then comfortably won by Ewan Thompson and the ball went out to the backs for Jake Evetts to burst through the home side’s defence to score a try which was converted by McLellan to restore the lead to 12 – 14 after 32 minutes. Kidderminster Carolians continued to play well and their back row of Layton Wilkinson, Rob Delahay and Ben Binnian had a number of strong attacking runs. Droitwich conceded a penalty which was converted by McLellan to deservedly extend the lead to 12 – 17, which was the score at half time.

The second half saw Kidderminster Carolians start the stronger of the 2 sides. Chris Pinner was always looking to make breaks from the scrum half position and keep Droitwich on the back foot. Kidderminster took opportunities to run penalties and quickly taken penalties by Chris Pinner and Ewan Thompson saw Droitwich having to defend deep into their own half.

It took 15 minutes into the second half for Droitwich to get into the visitor’s 22 and they levelled the scores at 17 – 17 when they went over in the left hand corner for an unconverted try. This seemed to stir Droitwich into more attacking play but Kidderminster defended well throughout the remainder of the match - Mark James playing at full back put in a number of strong tackles and one try saving tackle in particular with 5 minutes of the game remaining.

The final whistle blew with the score 17 – 17 and a well deserved draw and valuable points playing away from home. With these points Kidderminster Carolians are still 3rd from bottom in the Midlands 2 West South League but this performance will give them renewed optimism for their 3 remaining matches against Leamington at home next Saturday and then matches against Pershore and Cheltenham North who are below them in the league table.