Dogged Hove secure vital win

Hove entertained Gravesend at the Rec on Saturday desperate to change their fortunes in the league after a string of losses post-Christmas. In the reverse fixture, Hove snatched victory in the dying minutes as Carlos Casanova picked off a inception and ran 40m after Gravesend had controlled the game superbly for 38 second half minutes. Hove were relatively unchanged albeit without the senior players of Dugard and Saunders, but with circa 400 1st team appearances on the bench with Whiting and Ward the loss of experience wouldn’t prove an issue.
Gravesend kicked off and good phase play from the Hove backs and forwards was let down in contact with the ball spilled preventing any momentum generated. The third spilled ball in contact led to the first try as Gravesend counted and after a couple of phases were over in the corner. Conversion missed 0-5.
Hove came back at Gravesend with strong carries from Macdonald and Peake which led to a Gravesend player not rolling away and Casanova obliged by knocking over the resulting three points. 3-5.
The rest of the first half was a bit of an arm wrestle with no side increasing their points tally. Casanova pushed a couple of long range penalties and resolute Hove defence kept Gravesend from really threatening the Hove line. On the stroke of Half Time, George Davies was shown a yellow card for tapping the ‘biscuit’ atop the Gravesend 10s head as Hove went it both down on the scoreboard and with a numerical disadvantage.
Coach Newton’s words were to get to the 15m channel off first phase and drag the already tired Gravesend players around the pitch.
The second half however started as badly as the first half ended with Giles Emmerson receiving a ten minute rest after a tipping an opposing player past the horizontal. With 13 players on the pitch, Hove really had to step up the defensive effort. This was led superbly by young Elliott Curl who folded the opposition 15 in half as he looked to counter from the back. Another huge tackle from Bryn Garrish forced an error which in turn led to a penalty and momentum had well and truly swung in Hove’s favour.
Hove shuffled their pack after returning to the full complement with Macdonald making way for Ward and Whiting coming on for Casanova. Buckley’s darts were on point all afternoon and this platform provided Hove with the foundations in which they scored next. A good break from Max Marshall in midfield was supported well by both Ward and Whiting who then put Patton in under the sticks. Davies with the extra two 10-5.
Hove struck again not long after as a turnover in midfield led Hove to attack the blind side and Garrish showed a clean pair of heels to race away. Davies again on point with the extras 17-5. Gravesend came back at Hove and after a dubious offload in midfield was waved on by the referee, a successful conversion brought the game back to one score – 17-12.
It was Garrish again who put daylight between the sides, finding himself on the end of a well worked Hove move. Conversion was missed by Davies 22-12. A late Gravesend penalty made the game interesting for the final 2 minutes, but Hove were good for their win. 22-15.