Spitfires start to find their form as the hunt for play off spots tightens up
Spitfires moved up the table into 4th place and into a playoff place. The team at present is playing well with defence the order of the day, this time restricting the visitors Guildford Giants to just one try each half.

The first half raced by and stand-off Mike Thomas was on top form as he bagged a hatrick in the first 30 minutes giving the Spitfires a 14-0 advantage.

Guildford crossed the try line late in the first half and the player was held up, however the referee spotted that the ball had been grounded and awarded the try. Giants half-back Scott Tristan added the extras to make the half time score 14-6 to the Spitfires.


The Spitfires started the second half were they left of with some great aggressive defence which contained the Guildford Giants in their own half forcing them to kick from deep.

A great break from young centre Kris Ford led the way for the ball to go wide, a great switch from Mike Thomas put full back Rich O Donnell into a hole and he almost scored with a last gasp tackle stopping him, however the referee called play on as O Donnell was not held down and he stretched out to touch the ball on the try line to extend the Spitfires lead to 18-6.

From the kick off the Spitfires once again made great ground a penalty put them into good field position. From a missed tackle hooker Dave Linton ran across field and slipped the ball to Prop Forward Andy Douch who found his way to the try line to score on his return from injury.

At 22-6 the game was far from over and a lazy high tackle from Gavin Pollock gave the Giants the field position that they had struggled to find all day. As the ball was fed wide the Giants half-back spotted some lazy inside defence and threw a dummy and ghosted through to put the Giants back in the game as 22-12.

The Giants now were starting to sense a comeback and more ill discipline from the Spitfires gave the Giants some excellent field position. The Giants worked the ball to the right and then created a 4 v 2 overlap out wide. As the ball was moved across the back line it seemed as though a try was on the card, however winger James Bovett made a try saving tackle to deny the try and keep the Spitfires on track for the win.

With the Giants efforts spent the Spitfires went on to score 2 late trys. First Kevin Cant crossed after the referee missed a crossing obstruction and awarded the try and Dave Linton scored his trade mark try from close range with 5 defenders on him and he still managed to ground the ball.

The Spitfires now have a week off and play Sussex Merlins at home on the 7th of July. Match Photos and Men of Match reports to follow on Monday.