Mellish offer stiff pre-cup test

Spalding face Boston at home in the Notts, Lincs & Derbyshire Cup this weekend and warmed up with two matches at the Memorial Field.

For the Vets, it was their last match at the Memorial Field as the club complete their relocation to their new ground next season
Meanwhile, with the big cup tie looming, it was important to have a competitive game, so old friends Mellish travelled across to offer stiff opposition.
A combination of first, second and colts team players lost 33-17 to their old rivals. Spalding had a strong link with the Nottingham club, playing them on a regular basis and even touring with them. However, the teams are in different leagues now, with both clubs having securing promotion
It was Mellish, promoted from Counties 1 Midlands East, who showed up better in the first half with their teamwork organised by their fly half. After 10 minutes they sliced through the middle of the park and scoring between the posts
Spalding held their own in the scrums against a heavier Mellish pack and when they were able to spread the ball along their backs, Gav Sharman was unlucky on a couple of occasions, down the left wing, being tackled with the try line in sight.
With 30 minutes played Jordan Templer was shown a yellow card and Mellish capitalised with a strong scrum 15 metres out and the fly half played a crash ball move for the second try.
The visitors sealed control with half-time approaching, again prompted by the fly half’s play. A crossfield kick found their left winger in open space to score out wide and shortly afterwards a grubber kick through to the in goal area saw the centre’s pace beat the Spalding defensive cover for a 28-point lead
With half time imminent, full-back Jack Patrick fielded a high kick from Mellish, counter attacked, twisted and turned out of tackles and burst clear to score out wide
The early part of the second half saw Spalding far more into the game, holding Mellish at bay, with Miguel Da Silva prominent and young fly half Ryan Firth getting to grips with space being closed down.
However, pressure from the visiting forwards saw them encamp in front of the posts and a try followed.
Spalding came back in the last 10 minutes. Da Silva used his strength to burst through a couple of tackles then raced to cross the try line. Minutes later, Patrick cut through Mellish’s defence and outpaced everybody to score.
Meanwhile, ahead of the club’s move to Drain Bank North, the Vets enjoyed a 31-0 victory over their Biggleswade counterparts.
It saw a galaxy of former captains and past players turn up in a line-up that included former first team captains Andy Branton , Pete Shakespeare, Tom Deurden, Ryan Chappell, Harry Brown, Richard Cooke, second team captain Chris Ord and current Vets captain and captain on the day, Justin Cole.
After eight minutes of Spalding pressure, Deurden burst through to score under the bar for a simple conversion for Jim Bushell.
The scrum half/fly half, combination of Cooke and Bushell gave the backs, featuring Jim Williams, J D Charlton, Ben Williamson, Steve Saunders and Rob Newing plenty of ball to show their running and passing skills, and Williams sliced through for a second try.
A solid front row of Cole, Branton and Shakespeare provided a solid foundation for good scrums, with Brown breaking out of the back. In the lineouts, Mark Haighton showed his superb skills.
Flanker Sam Cooke charged down a Biggleswade clearance kick after 21 minutes to score another.
Wes Cope then showed his dexterity, outflanking Biggleswade’s tackling to run around to score behind the posts and at half-time the hosts team had a 26-point lead.
Rob Lancaster, Pete Smith and Chris Old joined the fray and, although Chappell and Cope incurred the displeasure of the referee with yellow cards, Cooke completed the scoring with his second try.