Esher 25 Wharfedale 10

A GREY day in south east London was marked by a bleak first half for the men in green.

And as they made the long trek back to Yorkshire it was another colour that was a topic of discussion – the two yellow cards that cost them 22 points.

When Rob Baldwin was sin-binned in the 22nd minute the score was 3-3. When he returned ten minutes later Esher had scored 17 points without reply.

Esher's only addition to their points tally came after 37 minutes when hooker Steve Graham was cautioned.

Wharfedale coach, Tom McGee, summed up his side's frustration.“Disappointingly, and confusingly we received two yellow cards for only two offences in our 22 which resulted in heavy points against us.

"Esher gave away six penalties in their own 22 when we were in positive positions moving forward and not one card was shown.

"That would have had a bearing on the game, possibly not the end result, as we weren't good enough in the first half.”

With 15 players on the pitch Wharfedale were a match for Esher. They showed that with their resolute defence as the home side had the better of the early territory and possession. Unfortunately, they were being penalised frequently by the referee.

Esher opened the scoring with a penalty by Paul Roberts but Jamie Guy replied in kind after 15 minutes.

Once Baldwin was sent to the sin bin the match swung in Esher's favour. Roberts kicked the conversion after the award of a penalty try, landed a penalty and added the conversion to a try from Tom Yellowtrees.

The Wharfedale followers, who found themselves braving the rain once again, felt there was a hint of a forward pass in the crisp handling move which brought about the Yellowtrees try.

Graham had only been in the sin bin a minute when Esher scored their third try. Again the try was well constructed. Esher sent the ball wide and though strong cover tackling nearly stemmed the flow, the extra support and good handling allowed them to cross the whitewash.

Dale found themselves 25-3 down at half-time. The damage had been done, but they came out and started to play with more conviction.

Despite still having only 14 men they started to gain the upper hand. The Greens gained parity at the scrum and it was now their turn to be awarded penalties.

Eleven out of 20 scrums ended with the referee awarding a penalty, sometimes before the ball was put in.

The scrum count ended even which was a testament to the Green Machine as they were certainly being dominated early on.

Wharfedale could not find the killer punch to capitalise on their periods of pressure.

Esher had chances to score during the second half, but two superb tackles kept them from the line.

The first was from Matt van Sertima who appeared from stage left and launched himself to thwart what was a certain score.

The second was from skipper Josh Burridge. He executed a last-ditch tackle just as Esher were about to touch down.

Dale scored a well-deserved try in the last minute when Will Bell dashed in under the posts. Guy added two more points from the tee.

Esher deserved their victory but Wharfedale deserved more for their efforts. There was plenty of endeavour and spirited play in the second half.

The Esher supporters expressed their concern over Wharfedale's struggles to avoid relegation. They feel something will be lost from the league if the Greens go down, but with the spirit shown in the second half they may well be seeing them again next season.

Wharfedale: Fewtrell; van Sertima (Stockdale 37, Graham 56), Hudson, Morgan, Tai; Guy, Woodhead (Bell 37); Altham (Beesley 41), Graham (Sertima 47, Altham 64), Wade (Cano 51), Hedgley, Powell, Allen (Willet 33), Burridge, Baldwin