Home comforts evade Meggies

CLEETHORPES went down 22-7 against East Leake – but can hold their heads high after a battling performance in a good game of rugby overshadowed by dubious refereeing decisions.

The Meggies, now fourth from bottom of the Midlands Four East (North) League, welcomed fourth-placed East Leake to Lucarly's in conditions perfect for rugby.

East Leake, who inflicted a 46-0 defeat on Cleethorpes in November, kicked-off and immediately had Clee on the back foot – but the home side held out for 15 minutes without conceding thanks to two bone-crunching tackles from Richard Hyde, and some excellent scrum-half marshalling from Peter Southwell – who was named as the man-of-the-match.

A conversion gave East Leek a 3-0 lead shortly before the visiting winger crashed in under the posts. However, the referee missed a dummy run which blocked Hyde and Ward from challenging illegally.

The hosts hit back through Burton to leave the scores 10-7 at the break.

With Fanthorpe back from injury as a second-half substitute, Cleethorpes pressed – but another infringement, this time in a lineout, was missed by the officials and in the same move the visitors broke away to score a converted try and go 10 points ahead.

An unconverted try at the death sealed the win for East Leake, who defended resolutely.

Training is tomorrow at Lucarly's (6.30pm), prompt start. Firsts are away at Skegness on Saturday, seconds face Market Rasen & Louth. Players should confirm their availability via the hotline asap.