Panthers beat League leaders Lincoln at home again!

After last week’s uninspiring performance against Kesteven, The Panthers were eager to turn things around and show the league that they still had a nasty bite.

Matches against Lincoln are always a tense affair, their squad is well drilled and have an excellent level of fitness which can wear many teams out and their results of this season and the last prove that, they had trounced Kesteven and Chesterfield were keen not to be served the same fate.

In order to combat Lincoln’s flair, the Panthers arrived early in preparation and with stern, yet motivating words from Coach Derek Sherlock and Club Captain Steven Avenier ringing in the squads ears they were bristling with aggression with a burning desire to win. The match had been named the ‘Fran O’Neill Memorial Game’ in honour of club ledged Fran and there was a big turnout of supporting fans.

The weather was warm and other than a fairly low sun the conditions were ripe for a quick game.

Lincoln kicked off with the sun on their backs and facing downhill, Chesterfield caught the ball and immediately charged into Lincoln’s defensive line with big forwards punching holes, unexpectedly the ball came out wide and Bunting immediately shrugged off players and sprinted towards the try line which looked like an early score about to unfold only for him to bounce the last Lincoln defensive position and stumble over his body, thus losing momentum other opposite numbers caught up and brought him to the ground. Chesterfield, with good knowledge of Bunting’s game plan were there in support and within moments Laughton had breached Lincoln again and got the first try of the match and his first 1stXV try of the season to the home supporters delight!

Lincoln, are no walk over, their discipline came in to effect and their fought back, their nimble backs and quick forwards were forever testing Chesterfield’s organisation and tackling. Eager to make heir presence felt Bunting alongside Widdowson and Miles ensured that the Lincoln set of backs were intimidated enough to try and resort to kicking or sending the ball out as far wide as possible to avoid hard contact.

The Chesterfield forwards were producing some good, clean ball, they were able to utilise their scrummaging skills and strength to clear out rucks and dominate around the field. However, the next try came from the quick Lincoln winger who scored in the corner, which only served as bait for the Panthers to up their game. The Panthers returned with another try from the ever calm Cooper to up the ante and have the crowd baying for more.

The game was starting to test Chesterfield fitness and discipline; tempers were fraying and concentration started to waiver this resulted in a number of penalties and with Lincoln eager for points started to make use of their competent kicker ensurd it wasn’t long before the points were piling up again.

With the first half over Sherlock gave the players a good talking to, Chesterfield now had the sun on their back and the lay of the land in their favour, Lincoln were clearly not a broken squad just yet although there were signs that some of their players weren’t used to such a physically brutal style of play. Chesterfield sensed this and went steaming in to the second half with optimism and pride, not before long the fruits of their labour was delivered with a try from Holt who thundered through a number of players and kept the momentum up. However, another try came from Lincoln who superbly kicked the ball from wide into an uncovered central area of the pitch for it to be grounded under the posts, primed for an easy conversion to keep the players and crowd guessing who would really run away with the spoils.

Chesterfield were not down just yet though and a fantastic team effort led to a try from Holland who reached over the line with his 6’10” frame keeping Chesterfield just in the lead.

Tensions were running high and it wasn’t long before Bunting saw his opportunity to storm through the weary Lincoln defence and over the try line for the ball to be held up and the try denied. At this point the score was at 22-24 to Chesterfield and in the dying moments Lincoln had the opportunity to kick for points on a penalty and marginally win, however, the kick proved a number of metres too far resulting in a stunning win for Chesterfield and a very exciting game all round.

Player of the match was awarded to Ben Bunting who received a commemorative plaque from the Club President and the Mayor of Chesterfield.

SQUAD:
Laughton, Whitmore, Jones, A. Allen, Holland, Barnett, Brailsford, Holt, S. Allen, Kennedy, J. Grayson, Cooper, Bunting, Widdowson, Miles, Marshall, G.Grayson.

Try Scorers:
Laughton, Cooper, Holt, Holland. Conversions by Miles.