Single point defeat for Dinnington seconds

And yet again the Lodge Lane men felt hard done by as they went down 7-6.

A very strong wind dominated the play and both sides had to work hard to prevent it from ruining the game.

Dinnington faced the elements in the first half and produced an excellent defensive display to keep Wheatley out.

When in possession, Dinnington kept the ball tight and this induced a high penalty count against the opposition.

Defying the wind, Dinnington managed to keep play mostly in the Wheatley half but handling errors were common and this resulted in a lot of scrums.

Dinnington thought they had taken the lead when they crossed in the corner but the opposition touch judge flagged for a foot in touch which at best was a marginal decision.

Midway through the half, Wheatley kicked the ball long and Dinnington let it go dead.

As the home side ran to the 22, the referee waved play on and Wheatley were quickly up to pressure a slowly retreating home defence.

A short period of pressure on the home line resulted in Wheatley driving over for a converted try.

Dinnington came back at Wheatley for the rest of the half but could not turn this pressure into points.

Wheatley made a couple of breaks early in the second half but neither got close enough to threaten the home line due to some more good defending.

Dinnington then set about the opposition’s lead by driving through their forwards.

Again this drew a high penalty count from Wheatley and so Dinnington opted to take the kicks and, hopefully, wait for the tries later in the half.

Successful kicks on 10 and 15 minutes by Danny Wilkinson cut the deficit to one point and he was slightly unfortunate to see the wind blow two others off target.

Wheatley defended well against what looked like the inevitable but Dinnington never really got within striking distance.

On the last play of the game Wheatley gave away a penalty at a scrum and Dinnington opted to run the ball.

However, they were halted by what looked like another penalty offence but the referee blew for time instead.