Keresley undoubtedly faced their most difficult task of the season to not only over come a well drilled, unbeaten Edwardians side but to also ride out 4 sin binning's & a referee who seemed at times to be set on the outcome of the game. Keresley were not the only one's however to be on the wrong side of some ludicrous decisions as Ed's had their outside centre put in the bin for some of the finest counter rucking you'll see all season .

But that's enough of the referee's failing's as the game was a contest of two finely tuned teams who play the game in the right way & it was, apart from the fore mentioned ref a great display of fully committed rugby.

Keresley were first at to strike after 3 mins, when from first phase from a lineout span it wide to fullback Luke Billyeald who barged his way up to the line before slipping a pass to winger Sam Bristow who dived over in the corner. The game swung both ways before Ed's converted a simple penalty on 10 mins, K's had their first of four players in the bin when Arron Abbott was adjudged to have high tackled, Dave Moriarty was quickly to follow when he mis judged scrum & dove on a ball that was still in the scrum. From the resulting re set of the scrum it seemed to wheel to almost a 100 degrees then crash in to the post before the ref allowed play to continue which resulted in Ed's getting their first try of the day.
Finally with 15 men back on the field K's managed to get some decent ball out to the backs for only the second time in the game whisch resulted in exactly the same way Luke Billyeald crashing through from fillback to off load to Sam Bristow to squeeze over in the corner to bring the game all sqaure. K's made a hash of the re- start something they continued to do all day which allowed Ed's to regain possession in a good position to attack the blind & score in the corner.

Half time

Ed's 15 - Keresley 10

Keresley had a good talking to at half time from coach Ant Collins about upping the tempo something they have aspired to do all season & the second half started brightly with K's looking a lot sharper & willing to run everything. Unfortunately the ref thought K's had played with 15 men for to long & quite rightly yellow carded Sam Bristow for a ridiculous decision to kick the ball whilst laying at the bottom of a ruck. Ed's quickly followed suit & had a player binned, again K's found some verve & continued to atack impressively which resulted in a try for Arron Abbott after quickly tapping a penalty in Ed's 22 & sprinting to the line unopposed when it must have been very tempting for the retreating Ed's players to illegally stop his progress, Martin fluffing the 2 pts when it seemed nailed on . However after more pressure Conor Martin did get chance to quickly redeem himself when he slotted a penalty to put K's back in the lead 18 -15. Ed's quickly regained the lead though after Keresley Captain was binned for attempting to catch a stray Ed's pass slotting a three pens of their own. With barely 5 mins on the clock & K's back up to full strength Ed's found themselves in their own 22 & struggling to get out. With some great counter rucking K's managed to regain possession through replacement scrum half Callum Finlay to stand up the Ed's defence & put Captain Gareth Jones through for the try, beautifully converted by Conor Martin .
With K's now just wiining by 1 point but with the bonus point secured Ed's through everyting at them through a succession of pick & drives which got them into drop goal range. As the Ed's 10 received the ball Will Patrick was first to react & sprinted out to charge down the ball with dramtic effect seeing the ball canon 50 meters down the pitch. K's gave chase with the ball now in the impressive Ed's 15's hands he smartly evaded the first attempted tackle but could not evade Jamie Brewerton who pulled him down. With 7 of the Ed's players still in Keresley's 22 Ed's had no choice but to kick for touch. K's won the resulting line out & after a lengthy discussion between Neil Hanna who had the ball & the referee whilst the ball was in play as to whether if he kicked it out the game would be over, the answer was conveyed as yes a Hanna duely obliged & kicked the ball if the park which sparked wild celebrations from the Keresley players & support alike.

Climbing up the Sunshine Mountain has not been sang so vociferously all season.