Wisbech edged out in hard-fought derby clash at West Norfolk
West Norfolk 11 Wisbech 8
Wisbech players returned home empty-handed after giving everything in a hard-fought local derby at West Norfolk on Saturday.
The home side ended a run of six successive defeats but they were pushed every step of the way by the visitors at Gatehouse Lane.
The first half was an extremely tight affair with both sides ending up on the wrong side of the referee’s notebook with Wisbech losing MJ Wright on debut, Solomon Prestidge and Raimondas Vinksna to the sin bin throughout the first half.
Despite the physicality and intensity, the first half lacked any real quality and the scoreboard remained 0-0 at the break.
Similarly to previous weeks, Wisbech were tentative from the start of the second half and West scored the opening try and a penalty early as they stretched the Wisbech defence and take a 8-0 lead.
This could have led to the home side running away with it but Wisbech had other ideas.
The second half saw Wisbech play with more belief in attack and pierced the West defence on a number of occasions but didn’t have the composure to support or convert this pressure into points.
Wisbech finally got onto the scoreboard in the 60th minute with captain Jack Malkin converting the penalty kick to reduce the West lead 8-3.
The Men in Red then experienced a period of dominance that resulted in a Wisbech try in the corner from short range by Raimondas Vinksna to level the scores eight-all with ten minutes to play.
However some West Norfolk interplay caused the Wisbech defence to scramble and the Men in Red gave away a penalty that the West Norfolk fly half slotted bringing the score to 11-8 to the home side.
Despite some positive play from the Men in Red for the remainder of the match, they could not convert the pressure and territory into points, the match ending 11-8 to the host West.
In a very physical intense match which at time got pretty heated, Wisbech lacked the confidence in both attack and defence to really get over the line.
Captain Jack Malkin said: "The frustration is that we have it within us but it’s just believing we can go and upset teams like this that’s the stumbling block at the minute, but it will come."
Wisbech Man-of-the-Match was the ever-young James Napier, whose tackling and never-say-die attitude was simply outstanding.
Wisbech welcome Bury St Edmunds to Harecoft Road on Saturday in search of their first league victory in their last game before the Christmas break, kick-off 2pm.
