Droitwich 8
Silhillians 7
Midlands Division Three West (South)

DROITWICH were less than convincing and had to rely on a late try from prop forward James Shewell to seal the win.

But victory means the Spa side are now guaranteed to finish in second place in Midlands Division Three West (South), and they are now set for a play-off for promotion.

Playing into the strong gale in the first period, Droitwich got their tactics right, keeping the ball in the forwards, with running the clock down more of a priority than playing attacking rugby.

Second row forward Matt Jupp was particularly effective as was veteran Nick Godfrey.

Droitwich did themselves no favours with the penalty count, giving away a string of infringements.

Fortunately for the home side the visitors' kicker was unsuccessful with three relatively easy penalty attempts.

Towards the end of the half, more penalties allowed Sills to pressure the Droitwich line to go over for a try.

With the half-time score at 7-0, the home side now had the wind at their backs and started the half confident of rapidly wiping out the arrears.

However, they never got out of second gear and a Duncan Hughes penalty was all they had to show as the game meandered.

Good running from Steve Poke and Craig Mortlemans gave Spa some momentum, but time and time again the passing was lazy and ineffective.

With time running out, a good run from Phil Horton found Ross Coombes in support to pressure the visitors line.

Several times Sils infringed and Droitwich opted to take a lineout to set up attacking positions.

Numerous times the forwards tried to breech the defence but the vistors' tackling was first rate, often driving Droitwich back in the tackle.

After Dean Goddard had gone close Shewell, picked the ball up and went for the line using his bulk to muscle over.

Hughes was unsuccessful with the conversion, but yet again Droitwich had just done enough to hang onto victory.