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Under 18s disappointing Draw
Eden 24 Cobargo 24
August 15th 2010 by Dave Evelyn
The Tigers under 18's faced a make or break game against Cobargo last Sunday. A win would see them playing finals football but anything less would see the season over.
Eden got off to a great start finding touch from the kickoff and then receiving a penalty.A great chance went begging when the ball was dropped on the first tackle. Cobargo regained their composure and scored the first try when Aiden Morris scored after a great jinking run from 20 metres out. From the restart Cobargo dropped the ball, Eden then received a penalty , and Eden's Chris Challinor scored to level the scores at 4-4.Eden had the early momentum and for the first time this season were ahead in the penalty count. Rob Geraghty and Jacob Young were prominent in early exchanges.When Andrew Evelyn fired a beautiful cut out pass to Morgan Bell out wide Morgan did well to slip a pass inside to Toby Timms who scored. Dylan Fletcher's sideline conversion put the Tigers in the lead.A dropped ball allowed the eels to score a soft try which was not converted.
Eden missed a golden chance when a pass went into touch on the first tackle, but the home side were not to be denied, and crowd favourite John Kendall produced a barnstorming run which led to the Tigers scoring just before the break with Dylan Fletcher touching down. At half time the Tigers were looking good with a 14-8 lead. The half time penalty count was 6-1 to Eden which was unprecedented in 2010.
Coach Mick Wykes was happy with the teams efforts and encouraged them to go on with the job in the second half. Unfortunately Cobargo were the first to score after the break when Eden dropped the ball and Jason Gannon scored his second try. The momentum of the game changed dramatically as Cobargo received three consecutive penalties and eventually scored after running the ball on the last tackle. After another penalty to Cobargo the visitors scored another try to take a 24-14 lead.Eden had a good chance to score after receiving a penalty but the ball went to ground on the second tackle. Time was running out for the Tigers but their persistence paid off when Andrew Evelyn scored next to the posts and Fletcher converted to bring the score to 24-20. With a couple of minutes left Toby Timms stormed over the line out wide to level the scores. Unfortunately the conversion attempt failed and the final score was 24-24 in a very entertaining match.
The second half penalty count was 5-0 to Cobargo, which shows how the momentum of a game can be dictated by the officials.
Unfortunately a draw was not good enough to get the Tigers into the finals. It has been a frustrating season for the side who have the skills and ability to match it with any opposition but inconsistency at crucial times has let us down. It must be said that during the season we have seen far too many poor decisions made by referees, some having cost us victories. Congratulations to coach Mick Wykes on a job well done.
TIGGER