Sinking feeling for Eugene Martin again as Bees struck sickening blow by London Welsh
Dec 14 2009 by Brian Dick, Birmingham Mail
EUGENE Martin admitted he had a familiar sinking feeling as his side were struck a sickening blow by London Welsh at Sharmans Cross Road.
Six minutes before the break, and in the process of giving a hugely disciplined and spirited display, Bees were leading 6-3 and on the offensive looking to score their first try in three league matches.
Simon Hunt broke through two tackles and was just metres from the line when a poor pass allowed Welsh to go the length of the pitch to steal a lead they would never lose.
And as flanker Jon Fisher evaded Hunt’s desperate diving tackle, backs coach Martin feared the worst.
“I seriously thought at that stage we could score and go on and win the game,” the Kiwi admitted.
“Had the boys had a bit of patience, the try would have come but it just unfolded in front of your eyes. What was it? Eighty metres? I thought ‘Oh my God here we go again’.
“It was frustrating because the boys had a pact before the game that whenever we got into their 22 we could not do anything silly.
“We were determined to come away with something, be it a drop kick, a penalty or a try, and until that moment we’d done that pretty well.”
Indeed for the first half-hour – after Ed Lewis-Pratt missed two penalties for the visitors – Bees looked more than a match for an Exiles outfit that cost upwards of £1.2 million to compile.
A couple of counter-attacks that suggested the old ambition of last season still burns bright and two Hunt penalties gave them a foothold in the game.
But an unlucky yellow card for the excellent Adam Clayton and Fisher’s opportunist try meant it was a yet another fruitless afternoon for the Solihull outfit.
However, on the bright side, it was their last match before head coach Russell Earnshaw returns from Sevens in South Africa.
BEES: Mitchell; Hunt, McLean, Lawson, Culpin; Petty (Binham, 76), J Williams (Brown, 45); Long, Philpott, Reid, Davidson, Noonan (Halavatau, 60), Cox, Bell, Clayton. Replacements: Dowding, G Thomas, Gardner, Tomlinson.
WELSH: Lewis-Pratt (Ross, 53); Sampson (Brown, 77), Starling (Mackey, 64), Whatling, Claassens; A Thomas, Stevenson (Runciman, 53); Holford, Buckland (Mercer, 78), Ward (D Williams, 74), Garvey, Corker (Powell, 66), Fisher, Mercer (Whitehead, 67), Mills.
