Westcliff 'B' vs. Rochford U12s, 6th December 2009

Parents with long memories will recall the last time we played at Westcliff which was in the Essex cup. Some rather dodgy rules along with some suspicious refereeing and timekeeping had led to our boys being ousted by Southend. So it was with some trepidation that we saw the said same referee calling the teams together for the kick off. However, we need not have worried as our Simon soon informed all within earshot that he’d had a word with said ref and had warned him that he was being watched so had better be on his best behaviour. Phew, that’s a relief then !.

From the Kickoff it was clear that Rochford were streets ahead of the Westcliff side in both skills and aggression. Some strong tackling and quick ball soon saw Matt open Rochford’s score line and after Westcliff kicked off on the restart an individual effort by Will extended our lead. The boys were justly fired up and before half time had added to the lead with two more tries by Olly and Mickey – the last being a rather entertaining juggling act with a now slippery ball (any talent scouts for the circus out there ?) but very effective none the less .

Second half and a superbly judged kick from “Big” Lew was chased hard by Olly and rewarded by a fifth try. Westcliff had no response and a second try by Lew saw Rochford end with a convincing victory. The crowd went wild, “a win against Westcliff , bring on Southend” we all cried. Oh, but alas, it was not to be! Apparently for reasons of “elf and safety” Southend’s U12 had deemed it too muddy to play. Funny how their other sides were still there willing to take the risk !. Perhaps they didn’t want to get their lovely white kit dirty or perhaps they knew us parents were up for revenge.

Who could say. However, not all was lost as there was another game in the pipeline.