MK1s pipped at the post by Chippy

First Half
A game that Chipping Norton needed to win to secure staying in Southern Counties North, Milton Keynes playing for a credible 3rd place in the league.

What could have been a very enjoyable game became a bit of a farce with a referee determined to use his new red and yellow cards with gay abandoned.

First score went to Chipping Norton with try in the corner,and just 5 minutes on, a break mid field by Dan Pearson took the play up to the Chipping Norton line, the resulting feed back to the forwards and a drive over the line resulted in Kieran McConnell touching down, conversion by Phil Powell. Chipping Norton back on the attack and scored again in the corner putting them back in the lead 10-7.

The home side then received their first yellow card for what reason we will never understand. Milton Keynes went on the attack again, and from scrum mid field, a quick tap penalty by Dan Pearson, he cut through the Chipping Norton defence line to score, a missed conversion, but Milton Keynes were back in the lead.

The second strange yellow card appeared with Chipping Norton`s skipper carded for allowing his side to give away to many penalties. Now with 10 minutes to the break Dan Pearson went alone on a long run to score, conversion missed, this was followed by Milton Keynes second row receiving a red card, that mistified both teams and the lubricated crowd. The half ended with Milton Keynes holding the advantage at 10-17.

H/T: Chipping Norton 10 - 17 Firsts

Second half and the first incident was a yellow card to the visitors other second row which left them with 13 men for 10 minutes, Chipping Norton took full advantage of this, by running in another try and with the conversion pulled level, shortly after, a good long range penalty kick put Chipping Norton ahead. With 20 minutes remaining Mike Dean stepped forward to slot over a penalty.

With 9 minutes remaining Dean kicked another penalty to put Milton Keynes back in the lead by 3 points. The visitors thought they had acheived a good win but it was the home side that stole the game with a try in the dying minutes. Final score CN 25 MK 23 Milton Keynes can still hold 3rd place in the league if they beat grove at home, this would be by the better points difference

Report Written By - John Silk