Havant rally to produce rousing comeback - but are still beaten by high-flying Dorking

Havant produced a rousing fightback - but were still defeated by London & SE Premier unbeaten side Dorking.
Havant's Jerome Trail goes over in the home defeat to Dorking. Picture: Sam StephensonHavant's Jerome Trail goes over in the home defeat to Dorking. Picture: Sam Stephenson
Havant's Jerome Trail goes over in the home defeat to Dorking. Picture: Sam Stephenson

Will Knight's men conceded what proved to be a decisive penalty in the closing stages as they went down 20-19 to the division's second-placed side at Hooks Lane.

Remarkably, after slipping 17-0 behind inside the opening 32 minutes, Havant rallied and unanswered tries from Jerome Trail, Scott Morris and Joel Knight had seen the hosts turn the game on its head to lead 19-17 with just under 15 minutes left to play.

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Yet, despite all of the home side's hard work to put themselves in a winning position, disaster struck with a matter of minutes left as Dorking crashed over what proved to be a winning penalty score.

A Havant player is stopped in his tracks against Dorking. Picture: Sam StephensonA Havant player is stopped in his tracks against Dorking. Picture: Sam Stephenson
A Havant player is stopped in his tracks against Dorking. Picture: Sam Stephenson

Knight says there were a number of positives to take from pushing second-placed Dorking, who have won all six matches this season, all the way although he conceded his men must stop leaving themselves a mountain to climb in matches by starting slowly.

The Havant head coach said: ‘We’ll take lots of positives. We’ve been promoted this season and we’re definitely in the mix with the teams we’re playing against.

‘I believe, as head coach, and the players believe we could and maybe should have won the past two games.

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‘I think Dorking were incredibly relieved to come off the pitch with the win - they felt they’d been outplayed in the second half.

‘What we’ve got to stop doing is letting teams get away from us, certainly for the first 10 minutes, we did that at Wimbledon - they got away with two tries before we got on the scoreboard - on Saturday (against Dorking) it was three tries.

‘It’s asking a lot to pull off the miracle comeback every time. We’ve got to sort that out and make sure we’re hitting the ground running and not giving away easy scores in the first few minutes.’

Havant, fresh from a two-point 21-19 defeat at table-toppers Wimbledon last time out, would be in for another incredibly close battle.

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It didn't look that way when Dorking bagged two tries inside the opening nine minutes, then another on 32 minutes to open up a 17-0 advantage.

But two quickfire responses from Trail and Morris in the final minutes of the first half pulled the hosts back to 17-12 behind at the interval.

The comeback was complete when Joel Knight's converted try made it 19-17 to Havant after 67 minutes.

But, with the hosts closing in on being the first team to defeat Dorking this term, there was one final twist as the visitors fired over a penalty to run out 20-19 winners in a thrilling encounter.

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