Once again Dorchester were unable to close out a game after putting themselves in a winning position, conceding a late try which sent them to the bottom of the table.
Playing up the slope and into the wind in the first half the visitors more than held their own for thirty minutes. Devizes opened the scoring with a penalty before Dorchester completed a concerted attack when Rich Bament forced his way over by the posts. John Firkin added the conversion points and Dorchester were looking comfortable.
Devizes added a second penalty to close the gap to a single point but rarely threatened the Dorchester line. Then Bament was sent to the sin bin for the remainder of the half and Devizes took advantage when their centre found a huge hole and scored under the posts. Surprisingly the conversion attempt went under the bar but Devizes did have a four point lead.
Dorchester now had the wind and the slope in their favour but the Devizes forwards knew exactly what they had to do and dominated the possession for the entire half. Dorchester did however have three long range penalties, the first came back off the upright but two more excellent kicks from Firkin saw Dorchester take a narrow lead with just fifteen minutes to go. Devizes did not panic and continued to play their game. Dorchester on the other hand did lose their composure, getting sucked into a niggly forward battle and conceding needless penalties.
The pressure eventually told and Devizes scored their second try, a carbon copy of the first. Dorchester did have five minutes in which to save the game but were unable to retain possession for long enough to seriously threaten the home side.
One point now covers the bottom three in the table and the significance of next Saturday’s game at home to Corsham cannot be overstated.
Weatherbury Hearn- SEC - JW Sacffolding Man of the Match– Dave Gower.
Team:- Borries, Chalker, Richards, Hodges, King (Polley 60), Prior, Brown, Goodfellow E; Gower D, Sprules (Weller 70); Spensley, Elliott, Firkin, Clark; Bament;
