NOT SO GOOD, BUT IT’S A WIN

DORKING arrived in their masses and Raiders dodged a bullet with a scrappy win in the constant drizzle and wind.
But ultimately it all came good for the home side whose frustration in an under par performance reliant on superb defence and the power of their pack, will have dissipated with the knowledge that their title bid is looking as strong as ever after rivals Tring and Hertford both dropped points in a 14-14 draw.

As pleased as he was to hear that news, head coach Jordan Reynolds was not so impressed with what he had seen form his men over the previous 80 minutes.
‘It was pretty bad today to be honest,’ groaned the coach at the final whistle.
‘They coped with the conditions much better than we did and we struggled in a lot of areas and we allowed Dorking to play today and it was a bit of a shame.
‘But look, we got the bonus point and it was the ugliest win we have had in a few years, but we got it in the end and that's what's most important.
‘The “pen” count must have been 13 to three or something. We penalised ourselves off the park and that's something we should be concerned of. However, it was pleasing to see our dominance at scrum time'

Raiders were required to dig deep as Dorking sought to overturn a 12-8 half time deficit.
The game had started well enough with Dan Hill scoring an early try converted by Owen Thomas, but Dorking stole a lineout and Matt Noble went over for their only score of the afternoon to move 8-7 ahead.
It was then that after a lengthy stoppage as Dorking prop Ben Edwards underwent repairs to his right boot, Guernsey lost all momentum.
They also needed Luke Jones to produce an outstanding covering tackle on Tom Hunt to prevent the gap from increasing, but by half-time they had regained the lead.
Having built up a few phases inside the Dorking 22, the ball was spun out to the left where Sam Whitehead cleverly used Armstrong’s run and found the gap to score and put his side 12-8 up at the interval.
Raiders had the strengthening wind largely behind them after the break, but for the first 20min. they were forced to defend for their lives.
Dorking pressed hard time and again but their only reward was a 25m penalty from their excellent stand-off Cameron Pimlow to close the gap to one.
Raiders could get no ball and it needed a superb box kick clearance from Malcolm Barnes to relieve the pressure and, finally, get his side back on the front foot.
At last, Raiders were in the opposition half and having won a penalty Thomas kicked to within 15m of the Dorking line on the far side.
typical of their performance in general, Raiders messed up the planned catch and drive, but they were soon back on the attack and this time their pack got real momentum on their driving maul, to the extent that they pushed Dorking back fully 30m before the penalty try was signalled to extend the lead to 19-11.

Breathing space at last.
On 74min and while Hertford were completing their second half revival to draw level with Tring who led 11-0 at halftime, Raiders made the game safe with another power show by the forwards and another score from Cam Craine.
Thomas narrowly missed a testing kick from out wide, but the points were safe and Raiders were able to see out the final few minutes despite being down to 14 after Tom Ceillam’s late yellow.

TEAMS
Guernsey Raiders: Steventon, Ceillam, Batiste, Hillier, Merrien, Hill, Martin, Horrocks, Barnes, Thomas, Campbell, N. Brown, Armstrong, Jones, Whitehead. Replacements: Craine, Currie, K. Brown.
Dorking: Evans, Ellis, Edwards, Howorth, King, Mitchell, Chambers, Watts, Gardner, Pimlow, Watkins,Rathbone, Arbury, Hunt, Noble. Replacements: Sheldrake, Osborne, Terelak.