Market Rasen & Louth see off rivals Lincoln
Market Rasen & Louth proved too strong for visitors Lincoln on Saturday as they ran out 31-21 winners at Willingham Road.
It hads been several seasons since Rasen posted a win against their local rivals and after a lacklustre performance against Nuneaton old Edwardians the previous week, Rasen had a lot to prove.
Things started well, as Rasen elected to take a scrum from a penalty in front of the posts and Ben Youngs peeled off to power over for a try, converted by Tommy Aldridge.
But Lincoln took advantage of several penalties awarded by kicking to touch in the corner and from a penalty following a line-out, they scored to level things up at 7-7 which was to be how the game remained until the break.
The second-half saw Rasen again begin well and after they stole a line-out ball, Matt Dean shrugged off attempted tackles to score under the posts, again converted by Aldridge.
But Lincoln again responded with a try of their own after a long pass back to Will Day was dropped backwards allowing the Lincoln number ten to scamper in under the posts, again converted.
Rasen, however, weren’t to be denied and scored again when Jake Goodison found Will Day who made the best catch of the game to scoot in under the posts with Aldridge again doing the honours.
A jinking run through the centre then saw captain Spen Holvey go over in the far corner and an almost impossible conversion by Aldridge gave Rasen a two-try cushion for the first time.
However in the closing minutes Lincoln used their back line to hare down the right wing again, passing inside to dot down for their third try.
From the re-start Rasen again pressured Lincoln into giving away a scrum. A clean ball was popped back to stand off Goodison who treated the crowd to an exemplary drop goal in the last few seconds of the game.
Overall this was a real statement by Market Rasen and a real crowd pleaser this early in the season and hopefully to be continued when they travel to Southwell next Saturday.