Dorking again proved to be a thorn in Guernsey’s side on Saturday as the club who have done the double over Jordan Reynolds’ men in each of the last three seasons edged them out once more, 26-19.
But while the Raiders head coach admitted that the better team won on the day, he revealed that his side came close to coming away with more than the solitary losing bonus point they picked up.
‘It was not our best day at the office. That was probably our least decent performance that we have put together in six weeks,’ Reynolds said.
‘In saying that, we were still in it right at the end, we were virtually camped on their line for the last 15 minutes and had multiple opportunities to score but just could not get it done. There was the possibility of a draw, or even for us to win it, but Dorking did well to stop us.
‘We are disappointed, but we have to get rid of the baggage from this game now and focus on the next week.’
In tricky, windy conditions, it took until the 26th minute for Raiders to open the scoring with Ciaran McGann going over for the first try.
Dorking hit back with Harry Elbrow touching down and Henry Anscombe adding the conversion to edge them two points in front and after both sides had a player sent to the sin-bin – Joel Broadhurst shown the yellow card for Guernsey – Jasper King scored a second try for the hosts on the stroke of half-time to establish a 12-5 lead at the break.
The home side added two more tries through Finn Osborne and Max Coyle early in the second half, extending their advantage to 26-5, before Raiders staged a fightback with Joe Callery and Michael Cantle scoring tries that were converted by Gwyn Parks, bringing them back to within seven with eight minutes remaining.
However, they were unable to find an elusive bonus-point fourth try that could have also earned them a draw.
‘They scored two quick tries after half-time, one of them an intercept try, and after that it was pretty much all us in their half,’ Reynolds said.
‘But we were not great. We definitely did not look like the side that had been competing well in the previous five weeks.
‘The painful aspect was the fact that we conceded a try just before half-time then two straight after due to switching off at key moments. If we’d had the same mentality, and just being ready, as we did against OAs, we go on to win that game.
‘When you go five games with bonus-point wins, there also comes a little bit of pressure with that and going to Dorking is always tough.
‘There is no doubt Dorking were better than us on Saturday, but the fact that we were still in a position to go on and win the game says a lot about us. We were not at our best, but still competing with one of the best sides in the league.’
The weekend results saw Raiders slip from second to fourth in the table, albeit level on the two side directly above who include Esher, who visit Footes Lane this coming Saturday.
Leaders Oundle remain the only unbeaten team in the division.
‘It will be one big last push for us this week before we get our first bye week,’ said Reynolds.
‘Esher seem to be flying at the moment, but it will be great to have a last dig-out before we get a rest.
‘I am sure the boys will be firing this week. We have just got to be more accurate and bring a lot more aggression to our game.’
