Rochford U12s vs. Southend, 24th February 2013

Southend had been put to the sword by Basildon so this gave both teams a chance to chalk up a morale boosting win. As ever the Rochford defence was solid and the early exchanges were taking place in the Southend half, Man of the Match Reece Garstin and Austin King leading the line forward and panicking the attackers. Eventually Southend began to kick to relieve the pressure but this just gave Thomas King at full-back the chance to catch the ball and run back up field, which he did to great effect.

Eventually something had to give and a run by Callum Stanley out to the left wing saw him leave the defence in his wake and he touched down for the opening try. In response the defence doubled up on him to deal with his speed and the next couple of runs were snuffed out before he could get clear. A little more vision could have seen the ball offloaded to the equally pacey Grace Wright and Andrea Marasco who were clear but once momentum was lost, so was the space.

The second half saw some more effective attacking by Southend and they gained ground a little more but tackles by Grace Wright, Christopher Martin and James Mowle snuffed out the more dangerous attacks.

Another break by Callum Stanley saw him race away for his second try of the game and give Rochford some breathing space. However Southend didn’t look like seriously threatening the Rochford line. Ethan Hepton was kicking well and the defence was solid with Daniel Harvey, Corey Lazell and Harry Knight working hard to tackle anything that moved and deny Southend space.

A late attack, helped by momentary confusion in the Rochford defence, saw Southend score and make the result a lot closer than the match actually was.

Full time – Rochford 10 Southend 5