Sat 24 Sep 2022, 14:30
Hornets earned their first ever victory in the National 2 West after coming from 31-14 down to beat Loughborough Students 40-38 at The Nest.
The hosts came into the contest with three straight defeats and despite being down to 14-men, after Silas Pill’s yellow card, Loughborough opened the scoring after seven minutes through Jake Metcalfe.
But four minutes later Hornets took the lead after Tommy Bailey capitalised on mistake by the visitors, with Charlie Carter adding the extras.
However, Isaac Bell restored the students lead with Alex Wainwright adding the extras to make it 12-7 in the 17th minute.
Tomiwa Agbongbon scored try number for Loughborough, after a break through from Metcalfe, with Wainwright successful added the conversion after half an hour.
Hornets were awarded a penalty try six minutes after Carter was the victim of a high tackle by Darragh Walsh before the visitors scored two tries in a minute at the end of the first half.
First George Barber, after quick paced phase, went over before Ollie Crane charged down a lose kick to go over.
But Kieran Ward grabbed one back and Carter added the extras as Hornets went into half-time 31-21 down.
Head coach Jack Gadd demanded more from his players during the break and challenged them to go out and get an early try.
And his side duly delivered two minutes after the interval.
Danny Bailey showed great strength to dive over and Carter’s conversion cut the score down to three with Hornets' fourth try of the afternoon, the third game in a row where the hosts have recorded a bonus point.
However, winger Metcalfe increased Loughborough’s lead further with his second try of the afternoon and Wainwright’s conversion looked to have secured the win.
But Hornets had other ideas. They have showed a lot of character in the early stages of the season and produced another fantastic showing here.
Ward went over following a well-worked line-out with Carter adding the extras in the 56th minute.
With time running out it was left to captain marvel Matt Parker to go over in the 79th minute to pave the way for Carter to slot home the winner and seal a historic triumph in front of their passionate supporters.
The win has moved Hornets up to tenth in the table ahead of next Saturday's trip to Stourbridge.
Match Report Credit: Joshua Thomas, Weston Mercury
