Slow start is costly for Worthing Raiders as they’re beaten by Old Albanian

Having conceded early tries it was an uphill battle for the rest of the game.

Good spirit and plenty of skilful moments earned another important bonus point but with Wimbledon winning the pressure on Raiders near the bottom of the league has ramped up.

Every match for Raiders is now a major event as they try to pick up points and move away from the lower end of the table.

After another very close match against Guernsey the previous week, Raiders made five changes.

Returning after long injury spells were skipper Jack Forrest and Peter Drummond. Ethan Clarke, Caleb Ashworth and Charlie Clare returned after being unavailable the previous week.

Ed Grinsted was not available and both Harry Forrest and Charlie Spencer had picked up injuries.

On an overcast afternoon Old Albanian kicked off with a strong wind at their backs.

During the first 15 minutes the visitors gave away several penalties and with the aid of the wind the hosts pinned Raiders in their own 22m area.

Old Albanian were able to dominate possession and field position, resulting in two converted tries giving them a 14-0 lead after 12 minutes.

The home side had made an aggressive start in scrum, ruck and maul which the visitors found difficult to contain.

It wasn’t until the 17th minute that Raiders got into Old Albanian’s half.

Two penalties in as many minutes were given against the hosts and this allowed the visitors to kick for position. The second gave Raiders a lineout 15m from the try line and Old Albanian received a yellow card for the infringement.

From the lineout a driving maul was set up, Ashworth broke off the maul and powered towards the try line, and when he was stopped Fraser Bruce picked up the ball and burst through to touch down. The conversion was made by Tom Derrick so it was 14-7.

Raiders had been penalised on two or three occasions for offences in the front row and the coaches made changes. Bruce and Ashworth took a rest, both to return later, and Ben Featherstone and Clarke replaced them.

Although the scrum became more stable this didn’t stop the home side scoring two more converted tries by the time 30 minutes had been played, and it was 28-7.

The wind made it very difficult to exit from defence using the boot, and often after making good progress up the field with ball in hand, errors were pounced on and the ball ended up back inside the visitors’ 22.

Eventually Raiders were able to go through the phases and force the home side back into their own territory.

Skipper Forrest made a telling break leaving several would-be tacklers behind him. When he was brought to a halt a few metres from the try line the ball was moved to Will Rigelsford on the left wing and he touched down. The difficult conversion into the wind fell short leaving the home side with a 28-12 lead.

Raiders almost scored from their own try line moments before half-time.

Running the ball out of defence Tom Bowen avoided a couple of tacklers and looked as if he would outpace the Old Albanian players to get to the corner and score.

But the cover defence did its job and he made an overhead pass back in field to supporting players but the officials ruled it had gone forward and the chance was gone.

Raiders restarted after the break with the wind behind them.

During the half the visitors rotated players from the bench to maintain the tempo.

With five minutes played Raiders had defended an Old Albanian attack well and held them up in the tackle.

From the resulting scrum they set off with ball in hand up the blind side. It looked like a good chance to go down the wing but a pass was intercepted and the hosts scored an unconverted try to stretch the lead to 33-12.

The game looked to be slipping away but Raiders were playing with more confidence and having prolonged spells of possession in attack.

Both Frank Taggart and Ashworth made telling bursts with ball in hand leading to Rigelsford being held up a metre short of the line.

The home side were penalised and Raiders took a tap on the five-metre line and after a couple of rucks another penalty was awarded.

The forwards again took a tap and Bruce crossed the line for his second try of the afternoon. Derrick converted and the score was 33-19.

Raiders maintained their momentum and a powerful break by Ollie Crow almost led to a try under the posts.

With 61 minutes played the hosts kicked a penalty to extend their lead to 36-19.

When a penalty was awarded to Raiders after 67 minutes they kicked to the corner and from the lineout they set up a catch and drive resulting in Ashworth touching down to earn the bonus point.

Derrick converted to close the gap to 36-26 with about ten minutes to play.

The visitors continued to defend well and looked capable of creating another score until Taggart was yellow carded and the hosts kicked another penalty to stretch the lead to 39-26.

Raiders gave it everything in the final minutes but were unable to conjure any more points.

Scorers: Tries: Bruce (2), Rigelsford, Ashworth. Con: Derrick (3).

Referee: Peter Caunt

Raiders: 1. Fraser Bruce 2. Will Gearing-Grief 3. Caleb Ashworth 4. Jack Lake 5. Dan Macadams 6. Ollie Crow 7. Joe Knight 8. Frank Taggart 9. Charlie Clare

10. Jack Forrest – captain 11. Will Rigelsford 12. Harrison Sims 13. Tom Derrick 14. Will Rawlinson 15. Tom Bowen. Replacements: 16. Ethan Clarke 17. Balazs Magda 18. Ben Featherstone 19. Cam Dobinson 20. Pete Drummond.