BUZZARDS ended 2011 on a high after a hard-fought 27-24 victory over fellow strugglers Spalding, giving themselves some much needed breathing room above the relegation zone.
Their much needed victory lifts Leighton two places to 11th in the Midlands 1 East table, leapfrogging Saturday’s opponents as the teams now enjoy a three week break from competition.
The league position is arguably the best that Buzzards could have hoped for. After making a great start to the season with two victories in the first two games, Leighton went on a seven game losing streak which saw them among the relegation strugglers.
But Saturday’s success was their fourth win in seven, and has seen them begin to emerge out of the struggle for survival.
Spalding were the visitors for the last game of the year at Wrights Meadow for Leighton Buzzard, sponsored by Grundfos. Receiving the kick off Leighton were soon on the attack and deep in the visiting sides 22 metre area.
The forwards started to take control early and this allowed Gavin Taylor to drive over the line for the first score of the day after only five minutes, putting Leighton 5-0 to the good.
Leighton were then camped in the Spalding half but allowed a break from winger Phillips who went round a couple of Leighton players to score in the corner to bring the scores level at 5-5.
Leighton then found themselves one man down when flanker Payne was binned for an offside position. The pressure was then on the home team and a missed tackle in mid field allowed the scrum half to burst through to pass to the Spalding second row to score, putting the visitors 12-5 ahead.
Leighton soon came back though and a superb dummy from scrum half Ilic opened up a gap and allowed him to add Leighton’s second try of the day. Ilic added the conversion to equalise at 12-12.
Things were not over though and winger Pearson showed his class by adding another before half time to make the score 17-12 to Leighton at the break.
The second half was another hard fought affair. Holmes replaced injured Cohen after only five minutes of the second half and Mark Lingard made his re-appearance at the club, back from university.
Gavin Taylor got his second of the day to extend the lead and Leighton were looking good at 24-12. Taylor had to retire early and this caused a reshuffle in the Leighton pack with James Gurney coming on and several positions having to change to accommodate the replacement.
Spalding got back in the game through a second try for winger Phillips. 24-17. Young prop KJ Evans responded and got his first try for the senior team to extend the score to 27-17 but had to retire injured shortly afterwards.
Leighton were down to 14 players but continued to fight hard and were disappointed when Spalding were awarded a penalty try to give the visitors a much closer scoreline and two bonus points, wrapping up the final score at 27-24.
Leighton are happy after the win and now go into a three week break for Christmas just outside the relegation zone.
Saturday also provided a great 2011 finale for Leighton 3rds as they hammered Olney 3rds 41-0 at Wrights Meadow.
After their disappointing 25-19 defeat to Olney 2nds two weeks ago, Leighton were looking for revenge and they got it in style as they wrapped up their 2011.
Olney won the toss and decided to go downhill in the first half, resulting in Leighton kicking off.
The game kicked off with an air of optimism and confidence, from the start Leighton were on their game, pressurising from every angle. The first scrum came fairly soon, and as is usual this season the pack was solid and drove Olney back time after time.
Carrying his form from last week, it was Tony Gear that opened the account for Leighton with his usual trademark run up field to score just left of the posts, ably converted by Jon Ilic.
Leighton’s lineout again was impeccable, winning a majority of the ball. Martin Rowe was jumping at two and stealing all of Olney’s ball. Despite the visitors changing their tactics and throwing to four, but Jay Bryce was more than a match for their jumper and soon started to steal all the ball.
Tony Gear has been a try scoring machine of late and was soon back on the score sheet for his second of the day, again a magnificent solo effort seeing him diving under the posts, and Ilic once again adding the conversion.
Ilic had a superb game at scrum half, dictating play throughout the first half and so fully deserved his try, ploughing through the Olney defence and over the white wash. But unfortunately, he stepped up and missed his own conversion, but Leighton were looking comfortably on top.
Andy Screech decided that he would like to open his account for the season with the first of two tries in this game and it was a well taken try. The player has been growing in confidence week-by-week and looks like returning to his old self, so he will go into the Christmas break beaming with confidence after a great score.
Leighton have a few regular players, those that have stuck through the worst this season has had to throw at them, none more so than Jon Dodd, the stalwart full back was delighted with his first try of the season, again it was great hands in the backs, with Dodds joining the line he charged through wide right and over the line, to further extend Leighton 3rds lead, however the conversion attempt was missed.
Andy Screech finding his form, made the most of his opportunity to go over the line for his second of the afternoon, with a conversion by Tony Gear extending Buzzards lead further.
Leighton were troubled quite a few times by Olney who weren’t going to just roll over. With 20 minutes to go, Olney were camped in Leighton’s 22 and made a break for the line. What seemed to be a definite score for the visiting side was brilliantly stopped by replacement full back Mike Wears. As Olney went through the phases, an overlap was created down the blind side and Olney’s second row went through a gap in the defence just for Mike to dash over and get under the ball, preventing the player from grounding it.
A controversial decision came next as Gear went charging down the left with Stu Ferris in support. Gear cut inside, drawing the defence in, before popping the ball to Ferris who went over in the corner with Olney’s full back holding on for a tackle, even though the ball was grounded. The official decided that the ball was held up, resulting in a scrum for Leighton.
It didn’t put Leighton off for long though, as the scrum created a score for another of Leighton’s favourites Ty Chaulia. The ball was passed through the back line and out to Ty on the right wing, who went off like a rocket, dancing his way through Olney’s defence and over in the corner, to the delight of the team and supporters. The conversion was missed, but it was enough with the one-sided scoreline reading 41-0 at the full time whistle for their second win in a row.
This win is a good send off for Leighton 3rds and they will look to put their disastrous start to the season behind them as they have become stronger as a team.
Buzzards captain Stuart Ferris praised his players for not letting their heads drop after the difficult start to the season, and said he was looking forward to getting 2012 underway in winning fashion.
He said: “I am delighted with the effort of every player that has played for this team. We end this year with two wins in a row, we hope to keep this momentum going over the Christmas break.”
Leighton 3rd now go into a three-week break over Christmas and New Year, when they return it will be an away game to Peterborough 3rd.
For the second week in a row, Leighton 4ths had their game cancelled, this time against Camelot 4ths. The Colts game against Bedford also fell victim of the freezing conditions.
Leighton Buzzard 3rds are always looking for new or returning players to bolster their ranks, so if getting into rugby is something that may interest you or someone you know, please look them up on Facebook and get in touch.