Luton 18 Chelmsford 19
(London One North)

Chelmsford pulled off a dramatic win, deep into injury time, with a coolly taken penalty from scrum half Ben Bayley, after Luton had been penalised for coming into the side of a ruck near to their posts. Chelmsford just about deserved their win after they had taken a 13 – 3 lead in the first half, only for the home side to reduce the deficit to 11 - 13 by the break, then take the lead with 30 minutes to go and hang on to this until the dying minutes of the game.

Director of coaching, Eddie Gooby said after the game, “What a difference a week makes, we did not get going today, as the game was a stop start affair and we could not build up much momentum throughout the game, coupled with too many individual errors. Credit to Luton they played to their strengths and caused us a few problems. As a squad we learnt the lessons from the previous week and we kept our composure at the end and built the phases and it was our turn to win the game with the last kick. What was really pleasing for me was the never say die attitude and the inner belief that we can win tight games. We set our standards high, but today we dropped off from what is expected, but we still gained our first every victory in London One North and that is a massive achievement for the squad and the club. The boys should move on from this with added confidence.

Chelmsford were missing key players, notably Jamie Ash at full back, Simon Hoult at fly half and Chris Hoult at flanker and then were hampered in the 2nd half when flanker Seth Robinson had to retire with an ankle injury. Luton started off on the attack and found themselves attacking inside the Chelmsford 22. The visitors then gave away a penalty for not rolling away and Rick Hobbs slotted the kick home to give Luton a 3 – 0 lead. The home side were looking confident in the early stages, but centre, Jamie Morrish playing at fly half, managed to drill the ball deep into the Luton 22. Play was then taken back into the Chelmsford half, but then Chelmsford were awarded a penalty for offside and Ben Bayley found touch inside Luton’s half. Chelmsford were completely dominant in the set piece scrums, putting pressure on the home side’s front row, with loose head, Stephen Prest giving his opposite number a torrid time, until he had to be replaced.

Fifteen minutes into the game, Chelmsford were awarded a penalty when Luton were caught offside and Ben Bayley slotted home the kick to level the scores. From the kick off, Chelmsford cleared the ball away and a subsequent scrum saw centre Adam Cunnah make a great break down the middle of the park for right wing Will Ferrier to round his man on the wing and score a well taken try after 20 minutes, taking Chelmsford into an 8 – 3 lead. The restart kick from Luton went straight into touch and Chelmsford were awarded a scrum on the half way line, the ball was lost, but Ben Bayley managed to pick the ball up and make a good break before drilling the ball along the ground deep into the Luton 22. From the ensuing line out a scuffle occurred between the two sides and the referee subsequently awarded Chelmsford a penalty 5 metres out. They took the scrum and scored an excellent push over try from skipper, Paul Redford to take them into a 13 – 3 lead. This was Chelmsford’s best period of the game, however, shortly after the try, Luton through Rick Hobbs reduced the arrears to 7 points after Chelmsford had been penalised. Just minutes before half time Chelmsford lost possession on the ground inside the Luton half and Luton took advantage of this and drilled the ball deep into the Chelmsford 22. A subsequent line out to Luton saw them work the ball through the phases and eventually the home side scored an unconverted try through Jamie Trevino, with just 2 minutes to go on the clock, to make the half time score 11 – 13.

The 2nd half was a much more even contest, but after 8 minutes, Chelmsford were awarded a penalty when Olly Wright, playing at full back was subjected to a high tackle and Ben Bayley kicked the penalty to increase Chelmsford’s lead to 16 – 11. Coach Eddie Gooby made a number of changes to the Chelmsford ranks, introducing Matt Lincoln, Ben Franklin and new centre, Keegan Jones. Unfortunately for both sides there were consistent interruptions due to infringements and injuries and the game as a spectacle lost its shape. Minutes later, Luton found themselves encamped inside the Chelmsford 22 and the visitors were hanging on with some desparate tackles. At this point the referee yellow carded Paul Redford for slowing the play down, and with Luton pressing on the Chelmsford line from just 5 metres out, they took a quick tap penalty and found an overlap on the left hand side for wing forward, Adam Harris, to go over for a try, which was converted by Rick Hobbs to take Luton into an 18 – 16 lead. The score stayed this way till the last minute of injury time, when Ben Bayley slotted home the kick to give Chelmsford a confidence boosting win.

This coming weekend sees Chelmsford play at home to Thurrock, who after two rounds top the table