A Dirty day at the office, but a win is a win

'Mud, Mud, glorious mud

Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood!

So follow me, follow

Down to the hollow

And there let us wallow

In glorious mud'

As they say.........

With UCSOBs forced from their pitch at the weekend, the 3s fixture was held on one of the lower water-logged pitches at Finchley. Preparation for the match was not ideal as a number of forwards armed with pitch-forks were trying to drain the pitch.
The whistle blew and Stortford were straight at UCSOB on the attack. Within minutes it became obvious that long passes and kicks were out of the question as the ball became coated in thick clay. 15 minutes in and it was virtually impossible to determine which side was which. With end to end attacking, neither team were able to break through each others great defence. However, Stortford decided to play a continual rucking game in order to keep the ball in hand and try to build with their phase on phase possession. 10 minutes before the whistle, Dan Newberry was sprinting out the back of the ruck with only the fullback to beat. A fantastic sidestep given the conditions enabled him to score under the posts, which was adeptly converted by 'Dangerous' David Doherty.

The second half started with UCSOBs much more focused. Their determination showed in the whites of their eyes! Or was that just because that was the only bit of anyone that was clean? Their increased aggression enabled them to break away down the right flank. Stortford Centre Gus Parkhouse made chase and in a spectacular try-saving tackle on the line, Gus managed to hold the UCSOB attacker up. For this he saved Stortford's scoreline and earned himself man-of-the-match. The rest of the half was closely contested with both teams drudging through the mud in desperation. However there were no more scores to be had. Stortford jumped in the air for joy at the final whistle in what was one of their hardest worked wins this season.