CREDITON 22 - PAIGNTON 10

WITH both sides desperate for points in an effort to move away from the relegation spots this game on March 24 was always going to be a nervy encounter for both players and supporters alike.

As it turned out our victory looks more comfortable than it actually was and whilst Paignton dominated possession and territory for much of the game, we dominated the scoreboard.

The opening quarter was very much Paignton but as has become the norm these days, our defence was outstanding but in fairness things did look ominous as we struggled for possession.

However, much against the run of play, the game changed completely on 20 minutes when a Paignton attack broke down on our 10-metre line, the ball was moved quickly right and young centre Barrie Karrea showed a superb turn of pace and broke clear down the right.

With the defence coming across, he shipped the ball to winger Josh Davey who was up in support and he drew the last defender before popping the ball inside to Karrea who went over for a superb try, centre Oli Down converted.

It was certainly a try of the highest order and one to delight the crowd of former Crediton players who turned up in force to sponsor the game.

Paignton then exerted more pressure but a combination of handling errors, strong defence and a couple of penalties conceded at crucial times prevented them from scoring.

On 38 minutes, a rare foray into the Paignton half saw us gain a penalty which Oli Down landed from long range.

Immediately from the restart, we set up another attack and a beautifully judged grubber kick from Karrea was collected by winger Gareth Mason without breaking stride and his dash up the touchline took play into the visitors “22”, his pass to full-back Jason Luff was well-timed and it was Luff who touched down.

This was a real blow for the Cherries who despite having the major share of possession and territory found themselves 15 points adrift at the interval.

The second half followed a similar pattern and again it was the visitors inability to retain possession at crucial moments that cost them dearly and only rarely did they get into our “22”.

On occasions when we did attack from close range, the Paignton defence was up quickly to nullify any threat.

However, where they had already been exposed twice with attacks from deep in our half, they suffered a third time when a clearance kick was fielded by flanker Chris Hooper who made ground before setting Karrea off on another run and with defenders in hot pursuit managed an offload to fly-half Rob Milton who went over at the posts. Down converted for a 22-0 lead.

Of course it meant Paignton needed to score four times to win and twice to get a bonus point but time was not on their side. However, in the final 10 minutes we began to make a few errors and concede penalties, hardly surprising as the effort put in by all the players must have been energy sapping to say the least.

The visitors were beginning to find holes in our defence but were still struggling to break through and it took a superbly judged cross kick from fly-half Steve Worth and which found full-back Ollie Higgs out wide for the simplest of tries, centre Dave Siddall converted.

In the final seconds, Siddall popped over a penalty with the last kick of the game to leave us with a 22-10 victory and whilst we missed out on a bonus point, we deprived Paignton of one.

Paignton will be wondering how they travelled home with nothing to show for their territorial advantage but the simple fact is that they had little difficulty in defending anything in their own “22” but were caught out three times when we attacked from depth.

All three tries were pure quality, the like of which you may see three times in a season but in one game it was a truly remarkable feat.

Barrie Karrea is a really exciting prospect with a mature head on very young shoulders and was involved in all three and, of course, whilst he would deservedly take the plaudits, none would have been scored if other players had not been in support.

This was an all-round team effort and now having taken 10 points from our last three games, we are sitting much more comfortably in the league than we were before the game.

However, there are still only six points separating the same seven teams and with 15 points to play for, none is immune from relegation quite yet.

Next on the list is a trip to league champions St Ives on April 7. There will be a bus and supporters will be very welcome to travel down and enjoy the day.

Of course the form book will tell you that we are unlikely to get much from the game, however, with the form that we have displayed of late I would certainly not write off our chances of creating a surprise.

The Second and Third Fifteen’s were left with no game and the Colts suffered a 24-0 defeat at the hands of Okehampton.

Paul Harris