WHILE most of the praise for Moseley’s second – and potentially decisive – play-off victory go to double try-scorer Chevvy Pennycook, the man himself chose to deflect those plaudits in the direction of skipper Andy ‘Razor’ Reay.
The tireless No.8 scored the fourth and fifth tries of his increasingly impressive season at the Pillar Data Arena and in doing so secured a result that improves Moseley’s chances of dodging relegation immeasurably.
The second of those, delivered just two minutes before the end of a pulsating encounter the visitors looked like losing, gives the men in red and black the chance to relegate neighbours Bees when the sides meet at Damson Park on Sunday.
And Bristol-born Pennycook insists the credit should be shared among the whole team – and especially Reay. The inside-centre assumed the captaincy after Neil Mason dislocated his shoulder against Bees a fortnight ago and has since led Mose to consecutive victories over a side that had beaten them twice in the regular season.
And for Pennycook that has been a big factor behind the club’s recent upswing.
“Razor being captain has done us the world of good for us and him,” he said.
“He is leading by example, he put us on the front foot in attack and defence, he came out of the line and put a couple of big tackles in.
“He is a really good captain, he definitely rises to it. He is a good talker before the game. He doesn’t say a lot but what he says is right.
“He knows how to play the game and knows how to read the game. He has been throwing his body on the line left, right and centre.”
Those sentiments should be a big boost to a player who has not always been a fans’ favourite and who has seen his place put under threat by the arrival of Dai Bishop and Joe Munro.
Indeed, going into the back-to-back fixtures with Esher, Reay had started just four of the previous 11 matches.
Since then, however, he has been an impregnable part of a much-improved Moseley defence and having limited Esher to just one try at Billesley Common, they repeated the feat again.
“We knew we could do it again,” Pennycook said. “If we cut out the mistakes that could have been over 40 points for us. We have got to cut those mistakes out and make sure we don’t give away stupid penalties and play for a whole 80 minutes.
“We play in dribs and drabs, ten minutes here, 20 minutes there. If we play for a full 80 we can beat any team in this league.”
ESHER: Ulph; Loizides (Griffiths 26); MacKenzie, Jewell, Chisolm; Slemen, Gibbs (Garner 61); Millard (Tunnicliff 61), Corrigan (Campbell 55), Baker, Rudzki, Inglis (Blakeburn 55), Wallace, Stitcher, Mayhew (Renwick 76). Replacement: Cruickshanks.
MOSELEY: Carter; Bishay, Bishop (Armitage 13), Reay, Thomas; Davies, De La Harpe; Voisey (Williams 55), Caves, Sigley (Voisey 79), Lyons, Stott, Maltman, Pons, Pennycook. Replacements: Warner, Evans, Maidment, Taylor, Bressington.
