Cinderford United’s promotion hopes remain firmly alive after a dramatic 42–41 victory over Stroud in what will go down as one of the games of the season.
In a contest packed with quality, intensity and momentum swings, United showed incredible resilience to come out on top in a true end-to-end battle.
Harry Tovey once again played a pivotal role, crossing for two tries and producing a flawless display from the tee, successfully converting all six tries to prove the difference in a one-point game.
United’s other tries came from Sean Gardner, Jack Hall, Oliver Johnson and man of the match Louis Douglas, as the visitors matched Stroud blow for blow throughout a gripping encounter.
After the final whistle, United Manager Paul Morris was full of praise for both sides and his players’ determination:
“If Cinderford United go on to win the Counties 2 Gloucestershire title then this win over Stroud will probably go down as our best of the season. It was an epic game.
Firstly we have to pay full respect to a Stroud side who are well coached and played some fantastic rugby. They did justice to a club with such history.
However, with multiple changes from our last game two weeks ago and a host of problems that we faced during the game, for us to overcome does our players immense credit. Some of these problems were caused by ourselves, many by Stroud and a lot from circumstances out of our control.
I couldn’t be prouder of our players’ resilience and mentality. In the end we deserved to win. We realise now clearly (if we didn’t before) that we have a target on our back and will do for the two remaining games.
A massive thank you to all our supporters (and there were many) who made the trip. It was noted and made a difference. The players are proud of you too.”
A huge result on the road, keeping United’s title ambitions firmly in their own hands heading into the final stages of the season.
Photo Credit: Kairos Sports Photography