Manor welcomed Wimbledon to the New Wilderness this week, like Manor they are new to this league and although they had won three games, Manor were hopeful that they could record their first victory of the season against them. With further changes to the team Manor gave a debut on the wing to Luigi Martelletti.

Things didn’t start too well for Manor when they kicked off and the ball went directly into touch, from the first scrum of the day, Manors front row of Joshua Permale, Jonathon Kopra and Damian Horton destroyed their opposition, driving them back and turning over the ball, this outcome would be repeated a number of times in the first half until personnel changes in the second half saw the scrum become a more even affair.

Manor had the better of the opening minutes of the game, Callum Mckie keeping the visitors inside their half with some good tactical kicking. Manor attacked into Wimbledon’s 22 with Kopra and Jack Tovey driving the ball forward. Wimbledon were given the chance to clear the danger when awarded a scrum, but Manor again turned the ball over allowing Manors Louie Southerland to drive off the back before the ball went out to centre Rhys Davis-Horne who jinked his way forwards making ground, when stopped the ball was set up and fed to McKie who put a grubber kick in behind Wimbledon’s defence for winger Elliott Brown to chase but he was beaten by the bounce as the ball went into touch for a defending lineout.

Manor continued to have the upper hand both in terms of possession and territory, but Wimbledon’s defence was well organised and Manor could not break it down. Eventually the visitors mounted an attack from deep inside their own half which saw play quickly move to Manor 22. Wimbledon were awarded a lineout, but Manors set piece dominance continue as Ian Edwards stole the throw in allowing Manor to clear the ball up field. Fifteen minutes of the game had passed with no score.

Wimbledon were now enjoying a period of attacking play, testing Manors defence inside the 22, but Manor stood firm and repelled the Wimbledon attacks, trying to vary their play Wimbledon sent a grubber kick into Manors dead ball area, but this spotted by Elliot Brown who won the race to dot the ball down for a 22 dropout. Still Wimbledon attacked and should have opened the scoring when after a series of powerful forward runs they worked an overlap out wide only for the final pass to be thrown behind the man and into touch allowing Manor to clear the danger from a lineout.

Manors next attack came from turnover ball at a Wimbledon scrum just inside Manors half, as the visitors scrum went backwards, Nick Horton grabbed the ball and darted down the blind side beating his man before feeding Brown on the wing, he outpace his opposite number then chipped the ball ahead towards the Wimbledon line, the covering defence just won the race to the ball and managed to secure possession before clearing the danger. 30 minutes had been played and neither side had registered any points.

Wimbledon were still having problems at scrum time and under pressure they tried to run the ball off the back only to be held up by McKie who with the assistance of Tovey, stripped the ball and drove forward, when the drive was halted Horton kicked the ball in behind the defence for Brown to chase but as the ball went over the try line he was just beaten the touch down by the fingertips of the Wimbledon fullback.

Manor kept the pressure on their opposition and when Tovey fielded a clearance kick inside the oppositions half, he beat the first three attempted tackles before setting the ball, this time the ball was fed back to McKie who kicked in behind Wimbledon’s line for Brown to chase, but again he was beaten to the touchdown by the visiting fullbacks fingertips.

Wimbledon now worked their way up field and put Manor under pressure as they tried to bulldoze their way through the home defence, with Manor holding firm they eventually won a scrum. With the scrum won comfortably, instead of clearing the danger with a clearance kick, Manor chose to drive off the back of the scrum, and with the pack slow to support Wimbledon stripped the ball from the ball carrier and set up a couple of powerful driving runs towards the line which eventually saw the visitors hooker dive over the line for the opening score of the game. With the conversion missed after 35 minutes the visitors lead 0-5 somewhat against the run of play and from a poor tactical choice from Manor.

The final minutes of the half were played with Manor on the attack inside Wimbledon’s half but they could not find the score that their play deserved and when they knocked the ball on, the ref blew the halftime whistle with Manor trailing 0-5.

The second half began well for Manor with Ben Thomas taking the kick off and making ground before winning a scrum. From the set piece Horton again went down the blind side before chipping ahead into Wimbledon’s 22 where the ball was kicked into touch for a Manor lineout. Manor secured their ball and drove forward eventually winning a kickable penalty. The shot at goal was turned down and Manor kicked to touch, although it wasn’t known at the time, the decision not to go for goal could have cost Manor the eventual victory. Manor duly won their lineout and set about driving into Wimbledon’s defence, but they stood firm eventually turning the ball over and clearing the ball to the halfway line.

Wimbledon now had a period of attacking pressure in and around Manors 22 but this was halted when Thomas tackled his man, stripping the ball in the process before launching a counter attack, supported by Horton who when in possession of the ball, kicked deep into Wimbledon’s 22 where the defender could only kick the ball into touch a Manor lineout. The home side again won their lineout before the forwards drove infield where Wimbledon again fell foul of the ref’s whistle and gave away another kickable penalty. This time Horton took the points on offer and after 15 minutes of the second half Manor were right in the game at 3-5.

As so often happens, the concentration levels dropped at the kick off and Manor failed to deal with it properly, this allowed Wimbledon to set up a sustained attack on Manors line and with Manor giving away a number of penalties Wimbledon managed to work space out wide to score in the corner. The difficult touchline conversion was successful and Wimbledon increased their lead to 3-12 after 20 minutes.

Wimbledon were now in the ascendency attacking inside Manors 22, their scrum had also improved and each and every one was now a battle. Twice the visitors were denied a score as Manor managed to hold the ball up over the line. When given the opportunity Manor ran the ball from deep with ground again made by the hard running Kopra and Thomas and after working up to the halfway the ball was shipped out to substitute Max Murray, he set off along the wing and seeing space in behind the defensive line chipped ahead, but the ball drifted in the wind out of play and a possible scoring opportunity had gone.

Still Manor went in search of victory as they ran the ball from just outside their 22, Nick Horton sped along the touch jinking past two attempted tackles taking play close to the halfway line, the ball was then fed along the line where Thomas took up the attack before floating a long pass out to debutant Martelletti on the left wing. Here he showed his potential and blistering pace where from just on halfway he rounded his opposite number, stepped inside the next attempted tackle then set off at pace along the touchline leaving defenders in his wake as he crossed the line and dived in behind the posts for an excellent individual try. Although the conversion was taken quickly the ref decided that time was up and blew for fulltime, Wimbled had won 10-12.

Manor had come so close to breaking their losing run, both of the visitors try’s had come from Manor mistakes and the victory was denied by not taking points on offer when opportunities arose. Manor can take a lot of positives from the game as they travel to Bracknell next week in search of victory. With a number of players making their comeback from injury in a good second team victory on Saturday, hopefully the coaches will have a larger squad of players available for selection.