WHEATLEY LOOSE OUT TO GOSFORD BY SIMON CHADBONE SHARE Share via Facebook Twitter https://www.wheatleyrufc.com/t COPY Wheatley fought hard throughout the second half but there were unable to find the cutting edge. Wheatley went down 37-12 but the scoreline flattered the home side with Wheatley dominating the scrummage and tackle area but struggling to tame the strong runners of Gosford. Gosford started well putting pace on the game and with some elusive running backs working hard to find the space inside 5 minutes the home team had open the scoring with a try under the posts 7-0 Wheatley lost scrum half Jack Taylor early on with a broken nose and with the referee deeming the head contact severer Jack could play no further part in the game. Wheatley's response was immediate heading straight down into the oppositions half with purpose, Wheatley phases were too much to handle for the home team with persistent penalties conceded allowing Wheatley to close the gap to 1 point with 2 Aaron Laman penalties 7-6 Having to shuffle the players around due to the injury Wheatley too a while to settle and re-establish the rhythm, and with a normally well organised defence Wheatley were at odds with each other and allowed the running 8 & 6 too much freedom and break the gain-line too frequently. as a result Gosford scored 2 further tries in the first half with Wheatley adding another penalty. taking the halftime score too 19-9. With Wheatley on a team warning carry over from the first half it was Jack Atkinson who took the punishment after a technical infringement at the breakdown and reducing the visitors to 14 men for 10 minutes, the resulting penalty yielded the home team another 3 points 22-9 Gosford didn't have it all there own way for the sin bin period with Wheatley able to tighten things up and play in the position half and what now had become the norm Gosford conceded a penalty for slowing the ball down with Aaron able to slot the 3 pointer giving Wheatley hope 22-12 Wheatley were now in their best period of the game and playing quick direct rugby, Wheatley were a constant threat moving the ball up the field. on a couple of occasions the ball was shifted too laterally and with no pace added to the play Wheatley were in danger of playing the remainder of the game on the halfway line, Now back to full strength Wheatley played their final hand bringing on Dave Thomas and Simeo Chadbone to add wisdom to proceedings but it was too little to late with Gosford scoring 2 converted tries late on giving a score of 36-12. Wheatley can take heart for the performance at scrum time withe only 7 men at Wheatley were still able to shove Gosford off of there own ball, Wheatley need to re-visit the defensive organisation we have gone backwards in this area, the lineout wasn't functioning as well as in previous weeks but found some consistency late on.