Harlequin Wanderers lose to Lensbury (From This Is Local London)

Harlequin Wanderers lose to Lensbury

12:56pm Tuesday 9th April 2002 in

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DESPITE scoring three tries to two, a lack of discipline cost Harlequin Wanderers the win against Lensbury IIs in an evenly fought and entertaining match, writes DM Kirk-Sargeant.

Late players, lapses of concentration and a sin-binned player contributed to Harlequins downfall, allowing Lensbury to snatch a deserved draw.

Going into injury time, Quins were in the lead, but a last minute penalty goal evened the score at 15 - all.

The delayed kick-off meant a reduced friendly match of 30 minutes each way. Neither side could dominate in the first half and it took 21 minutes for the first serious attack to be launched.

Harlequin Manager Chris Kelly, stepping out for the third time this season, was unlucky not to open the scoring when he was bundled into touch in the corner.

That effort inspired his younger team mates and, not willing to be outdone, Kwasi Appah dived over seven minutes later in the opposite corner to put Quins in the lead 0-5 just before the break.

Lensbury' s fullback continued the trend of attacking out wide early in the second half with a run of his own to even the score 5-all. Unfortunately neither teams kicker was having any luck with the conversions. Twice Lensbury were unlucky not to touch down. First when a pass overshot their winger and went straight into touch, and again when a tackle by Mark Sowden pushed their attacker out just short of the line.

Quins finally scored again after some slick passing involving Kwasi Appah, Matt Jones and Mark Sowden gave Captain Andy Robinson the try.

Lensbury responded with a blistering attack which outpaced the defenders and saw Quins concede a try under the posts. The first successful kick of the match took the score to 12-10 and gave the home side the lead at last.

Speed nearly paid off again for the home side but Matt Jones was able to keep pace and foiled the attack just short of the line. But Lensbury continued to keep Quins pinned to their own try line and looked set to score but dropped the ball before it could be grounded.

Quins rallied to claw back the lead, and succeeded with Mark Sowden setting up Matt Jones for his first try. With time officially up, all Quins had to do to win was keep their heads until the final whistle blew. Unfortunately this was beyond the Quins number 2 and Lensbury took advantage of the resulting penalty to kick the goal that evened the score 15 - all.

Man of the match goes to Mark Sowden for his stout defending and excellent positional play in attack.