(First off, apologies for lack of updating on the website recently: moving house and work have kept me very busy)
Last Sunday saw the Chichester Sharks travel to St. Albans to face the home town Kings and league new boys Hampshire Thrashers.
The Sharks, coming off a disappointing loss to the Eagles the previous fortnight, were eager to get back on track for their run at the playoffs. Reassuringly, the team were back on form as they notched up two very encouraging victories.
On a very warm, sunny day, the Sharks played their two matches back to back having refereed the Thrashers victory over the Kings in the first game.
In what became a pattern on the day, the Sharks and Thrashers were pretty even for the first half of the game. The turning point came when the Sharks showed their experience with a quick snap that caught the unsuspecting Thrashers off guard. With the Hampshire players discussing the next play in the middle of the field, Sharks QB took the snap and fired the ball to an uncovered Scott Wilson, who took the ball the length of the pitch for the game breaking score.
From that point, Chichester were in control and the game ended 27-12 to the Sharks.
Chichester are unbeaten against the Kings, but a strong showing from a larger St. Albans squad in a pre-season friendly earlier this year gave the team good reason to be cautious going into the game. That wariness was well founded as the Kings came out confident and aggressive, resulting in a 2 scores apiece tied ballgame at the half.
The Sharks looked the stronger team in that half however, as the Kings scores came from a short field and a couple of missed tackles. Those mistakes weren’t repeated in the 2nd half as Chichester dominated the rest of the game. The final score was 41-13.
Well done to all the Sharks players who traveled to St. Albans – it was a very impressive team effort, with everyone contributing. All three matches were played in good spirits, with our opponents making it an enjoyable and friendly day.
The results of those two matches take the Sharks to 3-1 and 2nd in the league table behind the 3-0 Leicester Eagles.
Season results so far:
Chichester Sharks 31 – 14 London Rebels
Chichester Sharks 13 – 42 Leicester Eagles
Chichester Sharks 27 – 12 Hampshire Thrashers
Chichester Sharks 41 – 13 Kings
Hopefully I’ll be able to update the player stats from these four games shortly.
Well done again everyone – please feel free to add comments about the matches.