Win gives DK fresh hope
Dudley Kingswinford had the audacity to win on Saturday and in doing so threw fresh hope into the minds of the Heathbrook faithful, who, for all money, thought their side was dead and buried in Midlands One.
Dudley Kingswinford had the audacity to win on Saturday and in doing so threw fresh hope into the minds of the Heathbrook faithful, who, for all money, thought their side was dead and buried in Midlands One.
Not so now because seemingly from nowehere, DK recorded their first away of the season - at second-placed Longton, no less.
Despite the Stoke-based side having invested heavily - and wisely - in new pitches at Trentham Lakes, which make their new ground an infinitely more desirable proposition than the hideous pitch they used to play on, there are still far easier grounds in Midlands One at which to earn two points.
Longton had lost there just once this season and given DK's precarious position one assumes a trip to the Potteries to face a traditionally tough, and usually fairly nasty, Longton side was far from appealing.
Credit to them, then, and new coaches Neil Shillingford and Mark Lockley for masterminding an unforeseen 12-3 victory.
"While the club's are not as ambitious as they once might have been, survival in this division, having gifted their rivals such a huge head start, would now surely be celebrated as if it were promotion.
"Four points separates them and Peterborough, who are currently third from bottom. "
Carl Robinson and skipper Ian Gowland got the vital tries for DK against Longton and a near-full-strength squad will be available for the new coaches to pick from for their next league game against South Leicester on January 19.
Like Longton, South Leicester beat DK by two points in their first encounter earlier in the season and will go into the game second in the table.
Manager Gordon Bannatyne said: "I have always maintained that we have had a decent side and to beat the second-placed team in the league shows that.
"There is a feel-good factor among the players for the first time this season and they played for each other for the full 80 minutes.
"The 'one-game-at-a-time' cliche really applies to us because every game we have now is a cup final.
"There's no point in us losing in two weeks' time and undoing all the good work from this week."
