Gill rallies Maidenhead for final five games after 'kick in the teeth' against Scottish

Drew Prince touches down for Maids against London Scottish Lions. Photo: Paul Morgan

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Maidenhead forward Chris Gill admitted Saturday’s 34-25 defeat to second placed London Scottish Lions felt like a ‘kick in the teeth’.

The home side gave so much to the game and led their high-flying rivals 22-8 in the early stages of the second half.

Gill forced his way over to score Maids’ third try just after the interval after Drew Prince and Lucas Norton had jinked their way through to score for the hosts in the first half.

But a combination of their own ill-discipline, and the Scottish Lions’ prowess from set pieces – particularly the lineout – led to them overturning that deficit to claim victory.

It was a tough one to take for Maidenhead’s players and their supporters, who’ll feel they should have at least come away from the game with some points to show for their efforts.

Despite a late barrage of pressure close to the Scottish try line, Maids failed to go over for a fourth try which would have bagged them two crucial points.

“It feels like a kick in the teeth, when you work that hard, and have trained so hard,” said Gill.

“And training has been really good. To come out of the game with nothing, when you’ve gone toe-to-toe with the second-best team in the league is tough.

“But I think we’ve shown we can stand up and have that fight for the last five games of the season.

“We made a big focus on the 10 minutes either side of half time. It’s been our big downfall this season. And 10 minutes into the second half, we felt it was in our hands, and we could go on and win.

“We knew that Scottish had a good catch and drive, but we kept giving away silly penalties which played into their hands.

“It was close, but that’s the difference between second and 11th in the league. You take your opportunities when you get them.

“We made it hard for ourselves in those moments. Last season we managed to get on top of that but this season it hasn’t been the case, and it’s not been falling for us. We’ll lick our wounds today and go again.”

Saturday’s results at the bottom of the table leave Maids in 11th place, two behind 10th placed Camberley and five behind Wimbledon in ninth. Bottom club Hammersmith & Fulham are also now sneaking up behind them, moving to within three points after their magnificent eye-catching 64-23 win over Camberley.

Speaking after the final whistle, Gill said Maids deserved much more from the game but hopes they take confidence from it into their trip to Worthing on Saturday, February 28.

Maids have just five games remaining to lift themselves out of the bottom two and avoid automatic relegation from the Regional 1 South Central Division. They have a tough looking run in on paper but will feel they can finish above two of Wimbledon, Camberley and Hammersmith if they can reproduce Saturday’s performance levels across those final five matches.

“I think getting two points out would have reflected how much we put into the game,” Gill added.

“But it’s not to be. It’s a bit cliche to say we take it one game at a time, because everyone says that, but we are.

“We have five games left and we’ve gone toe-to-toe with the second placed side in the league.

“We know now that’s the standard of effort and fight and if we can play like that against Worthing in two weeks’ time there’s no reason why we can’t come away from that game with a win.”