Guernsey Press

Defeated Raiders forced to relinquish top spot

RAIDERS were knocked off London & South East Premier top spot away on Saturday as they fell to a 33-22 defeat at Guildford that sees them slip to fourth in the table.

Published
Doug Horrocks on the charge for Raiders at Guildford. (Picture by Mike Marshall)

The pattern was set early on as Raiders gave away a penalty for hands in the ruck and Guildford duly slotted home the kick for a 3-0 lead.

Guildford returned the favour by conceding a penalty on their 22 and Sam Whitehead stepped up to level.

A drop goal restored Guildford’s lead and it got worse when their centre drifted over for the first try of the day which went unconverted.

A Cameron Craine try brought Raiders back to within three but in the dying embers of the half Guildford celebrated a converted try for an 18-8 interval lead.

On the resumption, both teams struggled to make any headway but on 55min. Doug Horrocks sliced his way unopposed under the posts for a try converted by Whitehead.

But straight from the kick-off Raiders failed to control the ball from their own line out and Guildford’s pack drove over for a converted try.

More poor defending saw Guildford stretch their advantage to 30-15 and Anthony Armstrong’s converted try came too late to save the day.