Norton pay price for dismissals with Cheltenham loss (From Redditch Advertiser)

Norton pay price for dismissals with Cheltenham loss

8:00am Tuesday 15th January 2013 in Sport

Cheltenham North 23, Kings Norton 0

KINGS Norton were left to rue their ill-discipline in a game that was cut short in the Midlands Division Three West (South).

The match was ended after an hour of play following a tackle by Jake Hayden-Wright which left Cheltenham’s Daniel Hewitt needing treatment from paramedics.

But the Hopwood-based side were second best in a game where the bulk of the scoring came either side of half-time.

They also conceded over 30 penalties, had two players yellow carded and one sent off to be reduced to just 12 at one stage.

Norton fell behind to a good try after six minutes, despite the efforts of Ryan Morley to snuff out the danger.

The Hopwood side came back hard and after 18 minutes of attacking play, Rob McGhee’s drive took him close but an infringement by Chris Carlin saw the chance go begging.

Cheltenham came back strongly and despite conceding an unusually high penalty count, Kings’ defence stood up to the constant pressure.

However, the home side eventually crossed for their second score in the 32nd minute .

Carlin’s excellent penalty attempt to close the gap flew narrowly wide.

Sam Woodward went on to replace Pete Crompton for the final minutes of the half and Kings kept up the pressure but after Norton were penalised for not releasing the ball quickly enough, Cheltenham scored a try under the posts to take a 13-0 lead into the break.

To make matters worse, prop Kris Fenn was yellow carded for verbal use to reduce Kings Norton to 14 men.

The second period began with Kings conceding a try after a smart run by Cheltenham’s scrum-half.

Sam Woodward received the away side’s second yellow card for an innocuous wrestle at the back of a maul to leave Kings down to 13 men.

But Norton then had Hayden Wright red carded for a dangerous late tackle on Hewitt and the game was delayed by 40 minutes as medical staff attended to the injured player.

With the visitors reduced to 12 men, the game was delayed again because the ambulance was still near the pitch and the referee called time early.

Kings travel to Southam on Saturday for the rearranged league game (2.15pm ko).