Long Eaton 22 - Bingham 8

Report – Long Eaton 22 Bingham 8

Long Eaton (5) 22

Bingham (3) 10

The last game of the season had us travelling to Long Eaton who were comfortably placed 6th in the league.

A bus laid on as a thank you to all for the commitment on and off the pitch, the chance to have a good day out and put the season to bed after what has been a bit of a night mare season ruing injuries, availability and never being able to get a settled side.

Bingham were not in the game for the first 5/10 mins having to defend and giving away numerous penalties with Long Eaton missing a shot a goal. The storm was weathered, led by some great tackling no more so than from Tom Crosse who put a great hit on the number 10 and then Bingham began to get a foothold in the game showing promising counter attacks, more than holding our own in the scrums. A stroke of luck as after breaking the defence, the Long Eaton Full back ran out of the dead ball area before being able to get the ball down.

The game remained tight albeit with Long Eaton having most of the possession and the deadlock was broken after 30 mins after a mess up in a ruck allowed possession to Long Eaton who broke quickly to score 5 – 0.

A penalty straight away from Anthony Thomas got the score back to 5 – 3 and then a poor kick almost handed a score to Long Eaton on a plate but this was ultimately cleared and turned into a 3 on 1 but the chance was squandered. A penalty miss just wide from Anthony on half time – 5 – 3

5 mins into the 2nd half and a soft penalty and slow reaction allowed the long Eaton scrum half the tap and go and score 10 – 5.

A great period where Bingham showed great fight and tenacity and coming close firstly Jordan Crosse making a dart to the line and being held up, JT then also being held up.

Returning a clearance Bingham forced their way into the Long Eaton 22 again and kept pressure on and forcing a few mistakes. Chris Garrod then picked up a loose ball made several metres and then someone got forced to line and just able to get the ball grounded. Anthony hit the upright from wide left

Just as the potential of a win loomed, a yellow card for Bingham and 2 late tries made the result look easier than it was for Long Eaton.

Before the game, Leesbrook were the only side below us who could have overtook us in the league but scores from other games makes it look we survived our first season in Midlands 4; a great achievement when viewed against the injuries and unavailability of many – in fact 8 of the players in the final winning team against Ollerton (above) have been severely missed this season.

We will be recruiting during the summer and intend to get a 2nd team out again next season and develop players - look out for Touch Rugby again this summer in association with the RFU