Misery at Hamsey Green.....

With a run of six wins on the trot Warlingham took to the pitch in confident mood. Despite being without their talismanic flanker, Tom Street, Warlingham still fielded a near-best side but found themselves too often back-peddling against a competent Bulls' pack.

The pre-match celebrations of a prestigious RFU Award and the unveiling of a number of cherished International shirts donated by former Warlingham players should have been the spur to a fiery Warlingham performance but the well-drilled Aylesford pack squeezed the home side into a number of infringements and missed penalty shots were traded before Aylesford burst though a line out in numbers and swamped the Warlingham defence for the first, converted try.

The Warlingham pack finally found their feet and worked good phases deep into the visitors territory. The Bulls prop was yellow-carded for a cynical foul and Warlingham turned the man advantage into points when they camped on the Bulls' line and scrum half Steven Murtagh made a typical dash through the defence for the first try converted by Kozminski. A massive up-and-under kick by Aylesford was fumbled by the home defence and a resultant penalty was converted so that Aylesford ended the first half with their noses in front.

Prop Kieran Scott ad lock Dollie Odwell punched holes in the Bulls'
defence and when they infringed Kozminski punished them with a coolly struck penalty leveling the scores. A Kozminski charge down looked as if Warlingham would sneak into the lead but the Aylesford defence held firm. Penalties were again exchanged and the game became somewhat fractious resulting in Scutt seeing the referee's yellow card. Warlingham held out, despite the one man deficit but the pressure built against them. The Aylesford back line, ever sharp and dangerous,
showed the ball to the Warlingham defence who bought the dummy and let the visitors in for their second converted try.

A number of injuries meant the game was played late into the afternoon, but, unlike the recently released film, Warlingham were unable to scare the Bulls in the Twilight! Aylesford held on to the final whistle and were worthy winners. After the game Warlingham captain said, "A very disappointing afternoon. We've had a great run of success but just weren't on the pace today and we must learn that consistency is the key if we want to be in contention later in the season."

Warlingham: Scutt, J Delderfield, Nunn, Dodwell, Robson, Fair, King, Hayward, Murtagh, Doe, Osborne, Kozminski, Wimble, A Skinner, McEvoy, Gates, L Delderfield, Abou-Zeid

Next week Warlingham travel to Heathfield & Waldron hoping they can get their league bandwagon back on the winning road.