Holt 2s 17 : 22 Diss 3s - 14th January 2016

Even after a penalty strewn performance by Diss Thirds they still stay on course to win Eastern Counties Three North with a hard fought win at second placed Holt 2nds. A match they rarely looked like winning was won in the dying minutes by John Alexander who completed a hat trick after scoring two tries in the first half. Some of the handling on show was dreadful and not all of it can be blamed on the slippery ball, but Steve Macqueen shone for the thirds in the first half and one thundering tackle on the Holt tight head just before the half hour was the tackle of the game. Diss welcomed back Gareth Watts in the second row after a twelve week rest and Robert Spink returned to hooker.

Diss began brightly after a Fergus Newman break on the wing almost gave Diss a scoring opportunity and Diss continued to put pressure on the Holt defensive line and Alexander managed to score out wide after a powerful scrum gave Diss space to score out wide. Holt got into the game and after a continued period of pressure resulting in Diss giving away penalty after penalty Holt managed to score two tries through their centres when tackles and channels were missed and Holt took the lead midway through the first half.

Diss come back into the game with some forward pressure and more good scrummaging enabled the ball to be offloaded to Alexander to go over again out wide from a base of a ruck. Holt again got themselves into a one try lead when again Diss gave away a penalty close to the Diss line and a Holt centre managed to score under the posts.

The game continued in a frenzied pace until the ref blew for half time and the thirds captain Benny Goodman legend forward Will Foote rallied round the players with a deficit of 17-12 to turn round. Changes were made to the personnel with Andy Mcallister coming on in the back row and this enabled another ball carrier to come on to help sway things in Diss’s favour. Early in the half Steve Macqueen managed to side step his way through the oppositions centre channel to score under the posts to bring Diss level on tries and the Naz Girgin conversion brought Diss level.

More penalties by Diss continued to heap more pressure on the away side but true to form Diss were excellent in defence. Young colt Luke Miller made his debut with a crunching tackle in the centre as well as Matt Cullum in the second row. The game was at a stalemate until four minutes from time with the attack and the furious defence shifted this way and that but Diss were now edging towards the try line. Diss managed to pile on the pressure and eventually after more great work from Man of the match Stu Popplewell another scrum enabled John Alexander to dive into the corner with 3 minutes left on the clock.

“Late finishes are not part of the plan, but a couple of years ago Diss would have been on the wrong side of them,” said the happy captain of Diss who added “our grit and determination got us out of trouble”. Diss now move 9 points clear of the top of the league with several matches still to go but are in a good place with players due to return to the squad in the coming weeks but potential banana skins lurk against the lower teams of the league.

Report by Benny Goodman