THANET WANDERERS VETS 29 – 25 SEVENOAKS RFC
Only a win would be good enough for the Thanet Vets to progress into the next round of the Kent Cup and their squad of 25 players matched that of the visitors.
Oaks opened the scoring with a penalty after four minutes but Wanderers hit back minutes later with a try from Ben McBryant who is an incredible 57 years old. Oaks came back with a brace of tries from their outstanding number 14, the second of which originated in his own half and ended under the posts for an easy conversion to open a 5-15 lead. Tom Longdon scored Wanderers’ second try after a great interchange but the visitors had the last word in the first half, also scoring an unconverted try, to lead 10-20 at the break.
Thanet made a good start to the second half and a try from Mickey Capeling followed more excellent handling and narrowed the gap to 15-20. The handling became even more ambitious and as the passes stuck Longdon was the one to finish off a superb movement to notch his try double and then regained the lead with a fine conversion.
A very competitive period of play saw opportunities at either end but with 12 minutes to go Wanderers’ pack powered over with Kevin Etheridge claiming the touch down. Longdon again converted well and Thanet had a two score cushion at 29-20. More stern defence was needed as the Oaks threw everything into a final push but it wasn’t until too late that their winger finally found a way through the home defence to claim his treble and make the final score 29-25.
The Vets are next in action in the semi-final on February 9 with opponents yet to be confirmed.
Report and photo Colin Whiteley