The Weekend's Local Sport Roundup

A summary of Newark sport - Sunday 21st December.

The weather gods forgot it was a Saturday as the sun finally made a match day appearance and it seemed that was the tonic Newark Rugby Club needed as the large festive crowd saw their favourites get over the line by by a margin of two points after visitors Belgrave had closed the gap with a try in the last minute. The final score of 30-28 was Newark’s first victory of the season and enough to move them off the bottom of the table.

Southwell RFU came out on top and keep their 100%-win record over neighbours Keyworth, the final score being 29-22.

Newark Town’s Ryan Rushen’s ninth goal of the season enabled his side to claim three points and move to within four points of leaders Boston Town in the UCL North Division. In a match of few chances against a defiant Eastwood the game hinged-on Brad McGregor’s interception and the centre forward’s cool finish.

By the time Newark & Sherwood kicked off the mist had descended on Grantham and the ere conditions were made worse with an uncharacteristic mistake in the 6th minute from home keeper Liam Flitton allowing a long-range effort to slip through his fingers and give Ashby the lead in the relegation six-pointer.

The home side gathered themselves and pressed the game for much of the first half and it was no surprise when parity was restored, a long free-kick from the redeemed keeper found the returning Gregg Smith who nodded it into the box, where Josh Parker latched onto the ball before lifting a brilliant finish over the keeper! In a match that NSU simply could not afford to lose their fought hard point will seem like two dropped.

Southwell City went down to a single second-half goal in their home match against promotion chasing Coalville while in the Notts Senior League Collingham hit seven at Arnold Town and move up to eighth in the table, that is only three points off second place.

While many of us made a relatively short journey to watch a match it was a little different for Andy Porter. He is normally found with notepad & pen mentoring out young referees, but a day off gave him a rare chance to be a supporter instead. So, it up early to get the car defrosted before a 330-mile round trip to watch his hometown team St Blazey as they travelled to league leaders Clevedon Town at the North Somerset Community Stadium in the Western League. He did not see a victory for his team but had a cracking day out.

And that got us thinking... Can you beat Andy’s awayday? Let us know which match you went to.