Cinderford’s poor form away from home continued as they were soundly beaten at Wharfedale, conceding 24 unanswered points in the second-half of another disappointing performance. The Forest side were not helped in their cause by collecting three yellow cards in the match, two of which were for retaliation, with their opponents taking full advantage to score each time a player was in the sin-bin.
With the advantage of the elements in the first-half the visitors would have been looking for a strong start to the match but they hardly got their hands on the ball as they were repeatedly penalised by the referee in the opening quarter. The home side scored a try through hooker Dan Stockdale, with Tom Barrett kicking the conversion and three penalties. Cinderford replied with a try from centre Sam Hanks, after they were twice held up over the line. Mike Wilcox kicked the conversion and a penalty to keep his side in contention at 16-10 at the interval.
Once home winger Christian Georgiou waltzed his way over for a try early in the second-half his team took control of the match scoring further tries through Aaron Myers, Jack Barnard and Rob Baldwin, with Barrett landing two of the conversions. Cinderford did have their moments in the second-half but rarely threatened to score, and if they don’t want to be involved in a prolonged dogfight near the bottom of National One this season they must surely be looking to boost to their playing resources in the near future.
Cinderford: M.Wilcox, N.Codlin, J.Adams, S.Hanks, C.Hawkins, B.Davies, C.Stuart-Smith, W.Davis, T.Bozzard, E.Booley, L.Randall, T.Hicks, J.Garner, M.Brown, G.Evans (Capt.)
Replacements: C.Bundy, F.Sinclair, G.Mills, D.Pointon, S.Hawley