Stewarts & Lloyds 32 Rushden & Higham 10

At the half way stage S&L sit top of the league as Scouts fall at Lutterworth.

S&Ls 2nd local derby in two weeks against Rushden did not start the way the S&L coaches would have liked, changes in personnel and a committed Rushden side driven on by Stuart Riding back in the side.
Rushden drove at S&L from the start, S&L struggling to keep them out, the S&L pack second best in most areas, a defensive lapse let Rushdens full back McKhechnie finish a flowing move Griffiths, adding the extras.

The S&L faithful were looking a little concerned as Rushden piled forward.
S&L started to win some ball as Rushden started to give penalties away at the tackle situation.
The game swung in the 28th minute when the referee penalized Rushdens blindside Mark Frankham and yellow carded him, this was immediately changed to red when words were exchanged, Kirk Lindsay kicked S&Ls first points of the afternoon.
This galvanized S&L and put Rushden on the back foot.
Lindsay and Griffiths exchanged penalties to leave S&L 4 points behind at the break.

S&L came out for the 2nd half with more belief, stringing plays together, but soon lost Tom Crockett for 10 mins for killing the ball.
S&L drove down the slope and good interplay saw Tom Crewe go over from short range; the extras added by Kirk Lindsay, S&L were in front for the 1st time.

Jon Robson and Simon Parker were introduced into the game, and S&Ls pack seemed to be more balanced.

Rushden were giving penalties away as S&L played in the Rushden 22, from a 5mtr scrum the extra man advantage allowed Jon Ironmonger to pick up from the base to score and allow Lindsay an easy conversion.

The game was over 3 minutes later when Tom Crockett picked the ball up deep in his own half, great support play from the rest of the team, the ball going through 5 or 6 pairs of hands allowed Crockett to finish it off.

S&Ls final flourish came as the pack turned over Rushdens ball on their own 10 mtr line, Milan Crooks drawing a defender to give youngster Craig Findlay space to outsprint 3 Rushden defenders into the corner Lindsay adding the extras from out wide.

This game served as wake up call for the 2nd half of the league season.