Giants Conquer Romans, Lightning, Injuries.

Chester Romans 03 - 07 Sheffield Giants

As has become standard at Chester, the game was full of early penalty flags and the Giants also suffered a number of early injuries which both disrupted the game and, of course, impacted on the game plan. Peereboom was the first to be withdrawn, followed swiftly by Marsden and Webster (with further injuries to Brock and Green to follow).

The early disruption led to both teams struggling to make traction, with multiple punts exchanged before the Romans put the only points of the first half on the board with a Field Goal, to take the score to 3-0. The Giants did respond with a good drive, but the attempted Field Goal from Morgan was missed.

With the Romans offence taking the field again with just under 05:00 remaining in the first half, another delay hit both teams – this time thunder & lightening forcing both teams off the field for safety.

Thankfully, with minutes to spare before the game would have had to have been abandoned and re-scheduled, the Teams were able to re-take the field but only after a significant delay, warming back up, and agreeing to reduce the game (removing the last minutes of the first half, and kicking off immediately as if resuming from half time).

The disruption, with more flags and this time an injury to an unlucky Roman, ensured both Teams struggled to move the ball again with two punts apiece opening H2. The game though turned on the 3rd Romans offensive possession of the half, with an interception thrown to Peter Parkinson who ran the ball all the way back to the 5 yard line (Parkinson actually initially thought he’d scored, but the play was brought back following a penalty).

The Giants offence took to the field and after first punching the ball in with Dan Padley, only for the far side official to overrule the decision, Elliott Jeffrey finally dragged the ball over the line up the middle. Morgan successfully converted the Extra Point and the Giants took a 7-3 lead.

Punts were once again exchanged, with James Hadabora standing out for exceptional tackles to help give the territory advantage to the Giants, before the Romans attempted a long Field Goal but missed. The Giants then took over and marched down the field, finally being able to kneel out the clock from within the Romans Red Zone to end the game.

The journey was long, and the match even longer, but the Giants walked away victorious moving to 3-2 on the season, a three game winning streak, and a real shot at both the division and the play-offs.

The Giants return home to face the Yorkshire Rams on Sunday 2nd June. The game will kick off at 14:00 and will be played at Norton Sports Park (289 Warminster Road, S8 8PS). There’s no charge to attend, so why not come down and make some noise to help push your Sheffield Giants to victory and closer to the play-offs.

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