BLUE and cloudless sky’s prevailed for an early kick-off against West Park. Sedgley lost the toss and were forced to play into the sun, which was the only element of concern, with excellent conditions and a perfect pitch to play on. 

A frantic start saw some territorial advantage gained and lost by both sides as they tested each other in all departments.  West elected to run it on a number occasions from all areas of the pitch, but got little change from the solid Sedgley defence, although they did make good yards from an accurate kicking game, which often saw the Sedgley defending from within their own half.  

Having soaked up first quarter pressure Sedgley began to make their dominance pay, with good ball retention enabling them to put together upwards of five phases of play on a number of occasions.  

Tom Albinson was the first to cross the visitors’ line. After camping in the bottom right-hand corner of the field a series of close-quarter balls from the forwards, notably Paul Keys and Ben Tattersal saw Sedgley burrow away and gain inches.  This gave Chris Wilkinson the opportunity to spin the ball to Dominic Kohler, who, offering dummy passes to O’Hare and Chris Hall, opened up the defence for Tom Albinson to cross the line under the posts. Kohler then converted to give Sedgley a seven point lead. 

This set the scene for some dominant play, with Sedgley’s forwards and backs linking well. Livesey put himself about the park and along with Joe Redfearn gave some well presented ball for Wilkinson to serve to the backs. Mistakes, however, continued to plague the Sedgley attack at the vital moment. 

The beginning of second half saw the visitors pick up their game, with some good work between their forwards and backs, attempting to stretch the Sedgley defence. After some sustained pressure and a number of mistakes they were allowed to camp on the Sedgley line, coming away with a score in the bottom right hand corner and five points. 

But this only served to inspire Sedgley to pick up their game which they did – kicking off and immediately putting themselves into the visitors half.  Replacement Tom Eastwood on the left wing almost immediately put in a big tackle, stopping dead in its tracks a blindside No 8 pick-up from the visitors’ defensive scrum.  Sedgley’s efforts didn’t go unrewarded and after some sustained pressure Wilkinson broke from the base of an attacking scrum, held off the defensive tackle from the opposition 8, 9 and 10 to pop the ball back inside to a galloping Livesey who went in from 20 yards out to place the ball under the posts, presenting Kohler with a straight forward conversion, his third. 

The last 10 minutes saw Sedgley increase the pressure but the visitors held fast, even after a break and 30-metre out of defence by Sion O’Hare.  On the last play of the game, Sedgley were awarded a penalty centre field 30-metres out from the visitors try line. Sedgley went for the extra seven points but West cleared from their dead ball area. 

SEDGLEY PARK: Chris Hall, Phil Largen, Tom Albinson, Sion O’Hare (captain), Roger Denison, Dominic Kohler, Chris Wilkinson, Ben Tattersal, Paul Keys, Andrew Duckworth, Andrew Clegg, Joe Redfearn, Matt Shaw, Dave Livesey, Richard Senior. Replacements: Andy Dowell, Matt Smith, Tom Eastwood.