NEW CROSS 31 NORTH TAWTON 28

THE loss that nearly was; after losing the first half, 26-14 and looking right out of it result wise, the Tawts came back very strong in the second half to take it to the wire and give the hosts more than a bit of a fright.

I spent most of the first half thinking, along with the other Tawt supporters, if we can just keep the score respectable, keep clear of any more injuries that would do.

That was after New Cross had scored three unanswered tries in the first 20 minutes to give them a 21 point lead.

Hold on, this might be a patched up North Tawton side but as we have seen many times this season they aren’t going to roll over.

Back they come, a try from Matt Baker, with the conversion from the back on-form boot of Dave Fewings.

He takes it to 21-7.

New Cross reply quickly with another try but miss the kick to move the points tally to 26-7, but just before half-time a try and kick by the said Mr Fewings makes the score 26-14.

New Cross were very much in charge for now.

A fifth try for New Cross early in the second half gave no clue of the fight back that was on the way.

At 31-14 down it looked all over for the Tawts but hold on to your hats, if New Cross felt comfortable at this stage of the match, they weren’t at the finish.

They were clearly glad to hear the final whistle.

Tawton have started to not just play but bully the game as well.

A try by Simon Quick in the bottom corner with the extras added by Dave Fewings made it 31-21, giving the home team some cause for concern.

Now playing with the wind, and using it to their advantage, the North Tawton team looked a different side.

All the talk of keeping the score respectable was forgotten, the Tawts can smell a win and another try by Matt Baker, with kick by Dave Fewings, takes the away side to within three points - a penalty would get a draw - a draw means an away team win in the cup matches.

Such was the comeback, I suspect the home team coach might have a sore throat the next morning trying to give encouragement to his tiring side.

Alas the final whistle comes just a bit too soon for North Tawton and they run out of time well before they run out of endeavour, final score 31-28.

Every player with the gold and black on left it on the pitch, from the oldest winger in town, aka Dave Quick, who put in a full 80 minutes to Billy Butler, who has never played on the wing before but put in a huge shift for the team.

Man of the match was No 8 Matt Hurrell, who made some fantastic line breaks and gave New Cross problems all day, but by and large every player that turned up deserved credit.

Chris Phare