Fakenham triumph in home nail-biter

Fakenham’s penultimate league fixture saw them win a nail-biting clash against Mersea Island 30-29 at the Stringer Ground.The game started evenly, with the sides testing each other out.The home side then took the lead in the 13th minute after flanker Joe Airey capitalised on a dropped ball to pick it up with a clear run to the line.Fly-half and captain Lloyd Marshall made no mistake with a simple conversion.A penalty gave Marshall the chance to point to the posts, and he duly extended Fakenham’s lead.Mersea Island fought back almost immediately, scoring an unconverted try from a tap-and-go penalty.Fakenham retaliated quickly with a penalty try after a maul was illegally brought down. Ten minutes later, Mersea Island chipped away at the lead with a successful penalty kick, leaving Fakenham 17-8 ahead at the break. A converted try early in the second half took Mersea Island within two points of Fakenham.Mersea Island took advantage of a home error to register another converted try to give them the lead for the first time in the game.Shortly afterwards, Fakenham levelled things up through second-row Jonny Wheeler, who powered over in the right-hand corner from close range. Marshall was unsuccessful with the conversion, leaving the scores level at 22-22.Fakenham then retook the lead ten minutes later. After a few phases on the edge of the Mersea Island 22, outside centre Aaron Tagg saw space on the right, and after receiving the ball, he handed off one player before powering to the line.As the game came towards the end, Mersea Island regained the lead. After good initial defence from Fakenham, the away side cut through with a good line to crash over from five metres out and a successful conversion gave Mersea a two-point lead with five minutes to go.A penalty attempt from Marshall was just wide, but the hosts continued to drive forward, and another penalty, this time just outside the 22 but on the left, gave Marshall another chance.He made no mistake the second time around as he slotted the kick to give Fakenham the narrowest of leads.The Barsham Brewery Man of the Match went to flanker Joe Airey, who scored a rare try to go along with his usual strength in the tackle and success at the lineout.Fakenham’s final league game of the season is on Friday, April 4, at Wymondham 2nds.