Mobbs-Smith says Maids are determined to make amends for final play defeat

Maidenhead in action against Bracknell before Christmas. Photo credit: Paul Morgan

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For the neutral it was a good game, for winners Camberley it was a great one, but for Maidenhead, Saturday’s 36-35 defeat at Watchetts Recreation Park was about as painful as it gets.

Maids were closing in on a potentially pivotal bonus point win over one of their main rivals to stay in the division, leading 35-28 as the clock ticked past the 80-minute mark.

Having held Camberley out in the corner, the referee blew up for an infringement, handing the hosts one final chance to try and bulldoze their way through Maidenhead’s defences. They handed the ball to Ben Harrison, and he managed to crash over the line. That took the hosts to within a point of Maids, but Finley Parker still needed to hold his nerve with the conversion to see Camberley home.

Defeat had been clutched from the jaws of victory. Five much-needed points had been squandered for two, and Camberley’s bonus point win lifted them level on 23 points with Maids this season. They and Wimbledon are locked together, with bottom club Hammersmith & Fulham cut a little further adrift in bottom place.

Two of these four teams will be automatically relegated at the end of the season, and this defeat means one of those sides is now more likely to be Maidenhead.

However, the great thing about sport is you usually get a chance to make amends a week later, and that’s what David Mobbs-Smith and his players will be aiming to do when leaders Jersey RFC visit Braywick Park this Saturday (January 17).

“It’s very tough to go away from home and play well, score five tries and still lose,” said the head coach.

“We were 14-0 up, 21-14 up, 28-21 up. For most of the game, we were leading. They had a penalty to make it 24-28, and then they scored a try to make it 29-28 in the lead. We scored again and we hoped we’d be able to hold out, but there was still a bit of time left for them to come back.

“We were leading 35-29 and they scored from the final play. Watching the game, both teams were able to make line breaks from deep.

“Both teams were determined to get four tries for the bonus point and points out of the game, even if they lost. For the neutral it would have been a good game and for the winners it was a great game. The guy who runs the league happened to be there and he said, ‘what a game’, but then he had no skin in it.

“We’ve had a few like that at our ground, but on this occasion, it’s bitten us. We’ve done well in these matches, winning three or four games like this. It’s one those ironies, because they nearly scored right in the corner, but didn’t. And the ref called it back for a penalty much closer to the poles and they tapped and went and crashed over. It may have been better if they had gone over in the corner, but you don’t know that in real life. He’s (Finley Parker) a good kicker though.”

He added: “There were a lot of players and people feeling down on Saturday. If you lose a game like that, people have made mistakes and they will haunt them a bit.

“That goes for the coaching staff and players. Everyone reviews what they could have done better to win the game. But then comes Monday and Tuesday and you get the chance to focus on the next task; that’s the beauty of sport. And we have the biggest task in the league this season which is playing Jersey.”