Agony for Blues as drop looms closer
Hinckley 41 Kettering 31
Kettering's hopes of beating the drop in National Division Three (Midlands) look slim after this latest setback.
Blues once again fell just short in their attempt to wrestle the points away from a high-riding Hinckley side still with hopes of making the play-offs.
Not for the first time, Blues fought back from an almost impossible position minutes into the second half – only to have their hopes dashed by a controversial refereeing decision when Hinckley were awarded a late penalty try.
Blues began with real purpose and it was clear that they were going to take the game to the home side.
But, as they pressed for a score, a loose pass was intercepted and Hinckley went the length of the field for the opening converted try.
The home side increased their lead with a penalty before, with Blues down to 14 men with Terry Pell in the sin bin, stretching their advantage further with a second converted try.
Kettering fought back to open their account when Joe Newman crashed over. Tim Jones added the extras, only for Hinckley to again breach the visitors' defence for their third try.
Restored to full numbers, Kettering reduced the arrears when Paul Sumner, chasing down a kick, forced the home centre into a mistake and the Blues man pounced for the score. Jones' superb touchline conversion cut the arrears to eight points at the break.
However, all optimism seemed lost when the home side scored twice in as many minutes at the start of the second half to open up a 34-14 lead.
Blues though, had other ideas, and they re-doubled their efforts to hit back with a Jones penalty and then a Corey Rainbow try converted by Jones.
That gave Blues three tries and a bonus point was sealed when Sumner went in for his second. Tom Bridgeman converted this time to make it 34-31.
With their tails up, Blues sensed a remarkable win but fate had other ideas.
First, Rory Keir was yellow-carded for not releasing at a ruck.
From the resultant scrum, Hinckley drove forward and Blues' attempts to stop them were deemed illegal by the referee who blew for a penalty try, much to Hinckley's relief and Kettering's despair.
The seconds lost 38-15 to Milton Keynes 2nd, the thirds went down 32-19 to South Leicester 3rd while the fourths were edged out 38-21 at Milton Keynes 3rd, despite a hat-trick of tries from Matt Pelezok.
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Weather for Kettering
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 10 C to 25 C
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