KCs strengthen grip on third (From Kidderminster Shuttle)

KCs strengthen grip on third

10:59am Thursday 14th March 2013 in Sport

Kidderminster Carolians 14, Droitwich 3

KIDDERMINSTER Carolians tightened their grip on third-spot in Midlands Two West (South) with a hard -fought derby win at Marlpool Lane.

KCs now boast a six-point lead over their Worcestershire rivals, who still have a game in hand.

Victory was secured on the back of a determined display to grind down a defiant Spa outfit.

In a cagey opening, the significance of the fixture seemed to affect the hosts more and the visitors profited from their anxiety and unforced errors to establish a territorial advantage.

But it took nearly 30 minutes before the scoring was opened when Ryan Handley kicked a penalty for the Spa men.

The visitors were reduced to 14 men when Matt Jupp was sin-binned following a melee.

Despite the extra man advantage, KCs struggled to breakdown their dogged opponents and went into the break trailing.

KCs then had an escape as Spa missed a penalty early in the second-half and Chris Pinner levelled the scores with a kick of his own.

The hosts were starting to turn the screw and Pinner edged them ahead when he won the race for Andy McLellan’s long kick to score a vital try.

Good line-out work and some tremendous cover tackling by man-of-the-match Tom Maher kept KCs on the front foot and an arcing run by wing Nick Martin resulted in a Droitwich lineout which the hosts won.

Another penalty by Pinner and a McLellan drop goal, which cleared the bar by inches, then secured a priceless four points for the Marlpool Lane side.

KCs now turn their attentions to Kings Norton in the North Midlands Shield on Saturday (3pm ko) at Hopwood Park.