Deepings V Stamford

Sun Shines on Deeping for Derby Day.

At a sunny Linchfield Road, an injury-stricken Deeping side lost 39-22 to already promoted Stamford in a match fit for the occasion.
On a day that held Deepings East Midlands (South) Division 3 place on a knife edge, it was obvious that champions Stamford would not be pulling any punches in a very fiercely contested match up.

A shell-shocked Deepings gave away a quick-fire double of tries early on as Stamford made the most of their possession.
A period of Deepings pressure then led to a penalty being awarded on the 15th minute leading to 3 points for George Offer from the Tee. Stamford, however, were keen to show why they were league champions with another try on the 18th minute putting them 17-3 ahead.

Deepings soon gained focus 2 minutes later when in the stand-in Captain and front row Gareth “Chuzzle” Silverwood pounced on a loose Stamford pass on the 22 metre line, to streak away and score under the posts, leaving an easy kick for George Offer to convert.

With the score now at 17-10, a riled up home side found their form and began to compete strongly in both attack and defence, countering any efforts Stamford were able to throw at them.

After a few great phases of play and some very smooth hands, Deepings were able to launch another attack resulting this time in Oli Peacock crossing over in the corner to narrow the gap to 17-15.

Just before half time, Stamford managed to break the mounting Deepings pressure and score once again, which only provoked the home side to come back harder after half time.

After sustained pressure and great work from both the forwards and the backs, scrum-half Lance Charity was able to break the Stamford line and calmly score between the posts before another conversion from George Offer made the score 22-24 to the away side. These would prove to be the last points the home side scored despite looking on top for the majority of the second half.

Stamford were able to score 3 more tries before the 80 minutes were up, showing how their fitness has been a large factor in their promotion push this season. This meant that the final score came to 22-39 in Stamford’s favour.

This result also meant that Deepings were relying on the teams around them in the league to slip up in order for their division 3 status to be retained. On a day with perfect conditions for both players and spectators, the sun most definitely shone on Deepings as the other results fell in their favour, leading to mass celebrations for both league champions and league survivors after the match.

Although it was a strong team performance, Man of the Match was awarded to try scorer and Captain on the day, Gareth Silverwood. Post-match, an injured yet very happy team captain, Dan Hainsworth said “Great team effort, did the club proud and deserved to stay up.” The feelings of every player were summed up when winger Ross McLean said “I feel like I've been hit by a truck, but I feel like I've won the World Cup.

After a very promising performance and large confidence boost, Deepings now look ahead to their Hunts and Peterborough Cup Final on the 27th April against St Ives, where they hope to bring home some much deserved silverware to cap off an eventful season for the club.

The Hunts & Peterborough Cup Final will be played at Linchfield Road, Deeping St James, on Saturday 27th April, kick off is at 15:00pm

Match report written by Nathan Pound