15th Sept 2007 - London SE4 League Hastings & Bexhill 15 - Beccehamian 14 Beccehamian's opened their London SE4 League campaign with a 14-15 loss away to newly promoted Hastings & Bexhill. Beccs dominated the game in both possession and territory creating more than a handful of opportunities which they failed to convert. This allowed a determined Hastings side who refused to give up in the last 10 mins the chance to grab the win thanks to a try 2 minutes from time and a coolly slotted conversion from wide out. Beccs started the game brightly on a sunny afternoon on the Sussex coast taking the game to the hosts with the explosive pack controlling the line out, number 8 Rupert Chitty charging over the gain line and the backline cutting holes in the H&B defence. Most notably full back Neil Paige using his explosive pace to gain 40 yards a time linking well with wingers Tom Warnes & Gbemi Fisher. The H&B midfield certainly owed their full back a few beers on Saturday night as he was well positioned and tackled very well all afternoon certainly saving at least 2 trys. A deserved man of the match from the H&B #15 albeit his performance of the mini-yard in the bar afterwards was shocking !! Beccs breakthrough came on 25 mins when from a line out set piece on the H&B 22, a well worked backs move sent outside centre Dave Matthews on a perfect line to score made for a 7-0 lead. Some very physical forward encounters at the breakdown resulted in a few flash points resulting in 2nd row Michael O'Hehir and the H&B #8 being sent for 10mins to cool off. Not to be outdone on the penalty count Beccs allowed H&B to strike back almost immediately to take the score to 7-3 half time. Although playing slightly up the slope in the 2nd half Beccs should have put the game beyond H&B reach with the large amount of territory & possession they had. The H&B penalty count allowed Gbemi to kick and advanced Beccs 40 yards up field giving great field position. Persistent H&B off-sides resulted in the H&B #12 being sent to the bin, a cooling period to be repaid in the final minutes. A catalogue of missed overlaps, poor passes, long passes and dropped passes contributed to a loss which never should have been allowed to happen. Even taking tap penalties from right in front of the posts late in the game to put the match beyond reach when 3 points were certain, showed poor early season discipline. The Beccs back line regularly breached the defence through Paige, Warnes & Matthews direct lines of running. Beccs extended the lead on 60 mins through hooker Bryan Sweeting who picked up the pieces from a loose H&B lineout 5 yards from their own line to extend the lead, Gbemi's well struck conversion meant Beccs were 14-3 ahead. Beccs learnt a lesson that with 10 mins left the game is far from over as H&B showed determination buoyed by the home crowd to pressurise Beccs and score 2 trys in the remaining 8 minutes. The final try giving the H&B 12 kicker fresh from the sin bin a very tricky conversion to take a 1 point lead which he duly took. Beccs still had a chance to take the spoils with a penalty 10 seconds from the final whistle, unfortunately Gbemi's trusty boot decided it wasn’t to be and Hastings breathed a sigh of relief to take all the points. Beccs certainly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. A very painful loss but with plenty of positives for Beccs to take into their next league game, home to Crowborough on 28th September.