Fakenham suffer home defeat to Ipswich YM

Fakenham pushed second-placed Ipswich YM all of the way in their tenth fixture of the Counties 2 Eastern Counties season.Fakenham opened the scoring just five minutes into the game.A good clearing kick from veteran fly-half Tom Bane-Young took his side up to the Ipswich YM 22.The Fakenham forwards then turned the ball over at the lineout and the home side worked the ball to the middle of the pitch.A few good carries took them close before captain and number eight Adam Lingwood picked from the base of a ruck to dive over underneath the posts from close range.Old boy Bane-Young hit the simple conversion.Just a few minutes later, left winger Archie Mattocks was put in space in his own half and carried the ball deep into YM territory. Fakenham then worked the ball wide to the right, before Bane-Young put in an impressive chip and chase, collecting his own deft kick to score, belying his advanced years, before kicking the conversion. The ageing fly-half continued to impress, breaking through and putting in an offload that was knocked forwards by the final YM defender.The away player saw yellow for his efforts and a penalty in front of the posts gave Fakenham a 17 – 0 lead.At this point, the away side started to fire some shots of their own. YM put in several phases to get close to the line, but good defence from Fakenham forced a knock-on. However, they could not clear their lines and gave away a penalty, which YM took quickly and powered over and added the extras from the left of the posts.Ipswich YM then scored again in a similar fashion. A quick tap penalty on the Fakenham five-metre line was initially repelled well as flanker Joe Airey cut them down.Nonetheless, in the next phase, the away side put in a strong carry with a good latch to force their way over the line and get the ball down under pressure and a good conversion saw Fakenham lead 17-14 at the break.Ipswich YM began to take control of both territory and possession after the break.They worked their way into the Fakenham 22 and managed to score in the right-hand corner five minutes into the half.A tricky conversion gave them a two-point lead. They bolstered their advantage by getting the next score.A great kick from a penalty in their half put YM deep into the Fakenham 22.They scored after the ensuing lineout and this time the difficult conversion from the right-hand side was nailed to make it 17-26.The away side continued to make their territory and possession pay dividends, working their way down the pitch once again. Similarly to before, they went through the phases and eventually made the numbers on the right to get over in the corner. The conversion was unsuccessful on this occasion, leaving YM 14 points ahead with ten minutes to go.As always, Fakenham refused to know when to give in and fought back.Keeping hold of the ball themselves, the home side worked their way into opposition territory before that old man Bane-Young made the difference once again.He cut through the midfield before showing the legs to get under the posts and then converted his own score, putting Fakenham one score behind with five minutes left. Ipswich YM kept the home side pinned in and eventually, with Fakenham having to try and run it from their own half on the last play, they knocked it on to bring an end to the game.The Barsham Brewery Man of the Match went to fly-half Tom Bane-Young.