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Pressure seemed to be the buzz word in the build up to this game - the Clifton camp claimed the pressure was off them because they had lost last week and there was a pressure involved with being league leaders, whilst according to Weston the pressure was on Clifton for the very same reasons. Others claimed the pressure was on anyone who claimed the pressure was not on them, whilst one person who must have been feeling some sort of pressure was the Mystery Report Writer who failed to post a match report from the previous weeks game for the first time in two seasons. It was all getting very confusing but did manage to serve up a cracking encounter between two highly committed sides played out in good spirit and marshalled well by the match official - both sides seemed to feel hard done by a number of decisions which probably means he had a fair game. A good sized crowd watched a match that went right down to the wire with Clifton"s lead snatched from them with the last play of the game as Weston flanker Hobbs scored wide out to tie the scores at 15 a piece. Clifton were at least spared from being robbed further as the conversion was missed. Clifton will feel hard done having victory snatched from them again on the last play of the game but nothing more can have been asked of the players who played with tremendous commitment and produced a big performance after the disappointing losses of the last two games. The Management and supporters were proud of the sheer effort put in by the whole team and will be looking to carry it through to the rest of the season. After trailing 10 - 6 going into half time following another crucial sin binning they fought back to take control of the second half and move to a 15 - 10 lead courtesy of 4 John Barnes penalties and a drop goal, it looked like they had done enough until the cruel final blow. Clifton were also unfortunate as their injury woe continued with flanker Luke Harris and Captain John Levis leaving the pitch at crucial times with nasty looking knee injuries - more on these to come in the week. Credit should go to Weston who play a good powerful game and are the best team Clifton have faced in the league this season, they did not give up until the very end where they launched a tremendous assault starting in their own half that led to the try. Things are now nicely set up for the return fixture on the 1st April but before then Clifton will have to take their medicine and analyse how they managed to lose in the last few moments before moving onto next weekends game. Hullaballoos Man of the Match was Edward Smith. Hopefully Web Supremo Andy Rendle will receive and post MRW"s match reports soon. The good news for Clifton was that the strength in depth of the first team squad was shown as the Wanderers recorded a big victory over Weston 2nds 44 - 15 (Man of the Match Craig Trump) with a number of players staking claims for the first team. More on this match and the NOMADs and BRATs matches to come. 0 |