Elks win on the road at Ashby

Elks came out on top in an entertaining game that was also riddled with mistakes eventually winning 25-27.

From the kick off Elks began well with Aaron Garvey making 40 metres, the ball was recycled but knocked on, Elks won the ball back and attacked through Tom Pottinger and Jake Lamb, again the ball was knocked on 5 metres out. The Elks pressured the Ashby pack and forced a scrum for the Elks, the scrum was well controlled and driven over for the first score on 4 mins, the touchdown given to Simon Bennett. Extras missed. 0-5.

Ashby responded well and combined with Elks lack of discipline were soon in the Elks 22, they worked the ball right and scored in the corner, the conversion was successful from wide out giving Ashby the lead at 7-5 after 10 mins.

Elks response was immediate with Lamb breaking through in midfield, he fed Aidan Norris who in turn fed Luke Bayliss to dive over in the left corner, extras missed making it 7-10 after 12 mins.

Elks began to dominate the game with Lamb looking dangerous every time he had possession, from one break he looked likely to score but lost his footing short of the line, several more attacks came but Ashby held firm, Elks then gifted a score for Ashby when a kick was charged down and collected by Ashby for a try, extras missed but Ashby were again leading at 12-10 after 30 mins.

Elks were still giving penalties away at the breakdown and from one such penalty Ashby added a further 3 points making it 15-10 after 35 mins.

The Elks finished the half well with a series of pick and drives near the line but Ashby defended strongly and at half time it was 15-10.

The second half started well for the Elks with a break by Lamb who fed Garvey who broke 2 tackles before feeding Bayliss to sprint through for his second try, extras missed making it 15-15 after 43 mins.

The Elks completely switched off at the kick off and gave away a soft penalty which was struck cleanly by Ashby to regain the lead at 18-15 after 45 mins.

Elks came back strong with another break by Lamb, Ashby were penalised and Elks took a quick tap, an Ashby player deliberately tackled the player within 10 metres and was given a yellow card, Lamb kicked to the corner, Norris took clean ball and the pack controlled the drive well with Joe Marsden getting the touchdown, Lamb converted well from the corner and the Elks led 18-22 after 58 mins.

Just as the Elks looked to have some control they pressed the self-destruct button with a loose pass which was intercepted and ran in under the posts, the conversion now gave Ashby the lead at 25-22 with 69 mins played.

It was all Elks in the final 10 mins as they launched a wave of attacks, following a series of drives Ashby were penalised and another yellow card shown as the pressure mounted, Elks kicked to the corner and again Norris took clean ball, the drive was held up over the line and Elks had a 5 metre scrum, the ball was moved right from the scrum and recycled quickly to find Bayliss in space, he raced through for his hat trick and put Elks in the lead, extras missed but it was now 25-27 with 77 mins played.

Ashby tried to get back into the game but Elks kept control and ran down the clock to full time, final score 25-27. Despite scoring 5 tries the result was always in doubt with basic errors gifting Ashby easy points, however away victories are always welcome and this lifts the Elks into 6th place.

There were strong performances from Jake Lamb and Aidan Norris but Man of the Match goes to hat trick hero Luke Bayliss.

Next week sees a home fixture against Dronfield 3.00pm kick off.