Sayer magic pulls win out of the hat
WHAT threatened to be a chastening weekend for Raiders quickly turned into a good one in the space of 20 minutes on Saturday.
Losing 5-0 at home to old rivals Hertford going into the 60th minute of their big clash at Footes Lane, the London & South-East Premier leaders were sparked into life by the outstanding Luke Sayer who set up a try for Owen Thomas and then scored himself to seal a hard-fought 14-8 win to stay top of the table.
‘We came up against a good side today and we came out on top despite playing below par from what we think we can offer, so I think there’s a silver lining there,’ said coach Jordan Reynolds on the Hertford performance.
‘Hertford and us, I don’t think any game has had more than a few points in it over the last 10 years. It’s always a tight game.
‘They are coached well, they are physical, they disrupted a lot of our clean ball around the breakdown and it was hard to get anything going.
‘You could see a little bit of frustration coming into our game, which was disappointing, but you’ve got to give credit to Hertford because they really wanted something out of this.’
Then came the news that title rivals Wimbledon had suffered a 24-16 defeat away to Sevenoaks, failing to pick up any bonus points in the process, giving Raiders a seven-point buffer on the third-placed club.
There was no surprise as second-placed Rochford Hundred handed out a 59-7 thumping to Bedford Athletic to move within a point of Guernsey, but they now face a trip to Footes Lane this coming Saturday.
Full match report in Monday's Guernsey Press.
