14 man Warlingham battle against the Top Dogs

With Brighton justly unassailable at the top of the table, the fixture was a tough task for the visitors, made virtually impossible
by a Draconian decision of the referee to 'red card' Warlingham hooker James Delderfield after 18 minutes for a deliberate trip on a Brighton player. With no malice in the incident, no injury and no chance that Brighton were try-bound, both sets of players were astounded at the decision. Until this point Warlingham had been pressing hard and earned an early penalty converted by full back Mark Kozminski.

The teams swapped penalties and Warlingham, despite the man down, continued to pressurise the home side with crunching tackles from No 8 Ollie Dodwell and lock Nick Ray. An unmissed forward pass saw Brighton
blast down the left flank but centre Alex Skinner saved the day with a corner flag tackle. The Brighton forwards secured the ball and when Warlingham ran out of defenders the converted try followed and Brighton had their cold noses in front. Brighton infringed frequently and from one such penalty Kozminski slotted his third to bring Warlingham within one point.

At the half way point Brighton were being frustrated by the 'in your face' tacking of Warlingham whose gallant fourteen had raised
their game to fever level. Captain Zack King and prop Anthony Abou-Zeid featured in the stout defence and scrum half Joe McEvoy provided a secure link betwixt forwards and backs. Harry Wrightson, returning from university at centre, also sewed up the midfield. Early in the second half a Brighton player was only yellow-carded for repeated punching and for a while it looked as if Warlingham would pull the game out of the bag. Injuries to Tom Street, Dodwell and Jon Osborne meant that substitutes were utilised earlier than strategically necessary and, with the extra man advantage, Brighton should have imposed themselves much earlier in the second half.

Warlingham's Herculean efforts faded in the last quarter when Brighton's power play and slick backs came good and ran in a further
four unanswered tries. After the game Warlingham Chairman, Peter Wrightson said, "The red card was the turning point of the game and it really was an uphill battle after that. I thought all the lads played with conviction and, with a full side, we could have given Brighton
a surprise.."

Warlingham: Abou-Zeid, J Delderfield, Scutt, Ray, L Delderfield,
Street, King, Dodwell, McEvoy, A Wright, H Wrightson, Skinner, Osborne, Atkinson, Kozminski, A Nunn, Doe, Murtagh.