Playing down the slope, Loughborough had a clear edge in the first half. Skipper Josh Sharp put the home side ahead with a 6th minute penalty and 5 minutes later his half back partner Harry Simmons caught out the Park defence for a try, converted by Sharp, who then added a penalty for 13-0 with only 16 minutes gone.

Scott Sneddon pulled back three points for Park with a penalty, only for flanker Matt McPherson to charge over for the home side, Sharp’s conversion making the score 20-3.

Full-back Henry Robinson finished off a good Park play before the interval, Sneddon converting for 20-10.

The second half was a different story, with Park the dominant force. An early Sneddon penalty was followed by a converted try from Stewart Maguire to level the scores at 20-20.

Park really should have kicked on from there, but with 7 minutes remaining Sharp kicked his side ahead. Sneddon replied with a penalty, and then looked as if he had won the match for Park when he conjured up a drop goal in the last seconds of added time.

The referee’s watch disagreed. Play restarted and almost immediately Loughborough were awarded a penalty and as the ball bisected the posts the final whistle sounded at 26-26.

Park: Robinson; Kohler, Henderson, Reay, Vincent; Sneddon; Weir; Lilley, Bellamy, Lovell; Inglis, Frampton; Broadbent, Harries, Ellis
Bench: Piper, Maguire, Hudson, Brand, Leonard

Park’s backs Coach, Scott Sneddon, said, “We talked about backing up last week’s performance with an 80 minute performance against a young Loughborough team who will always work hard for the whole game.

“Unfortunately, It was another case of too many unforced errors early in the game which meant Loughborough not having to work hard for their points. Whilst there were some positives in the way we fought back to get the draw, we need to stop these lapses in concentration for 20 minute periods at the start of the game.

“We'll go away this week and be honest as a group that the weekend was simply not good enough”.

This Saturday Park face a massive challenge when second-placed Birmingham Moseley visit the Rock, on the back of a 72-14 crushing of Cambridge. Sneddon said, “Moseley will bring a huge challenge to the Rock this week and we need to perform for 80 minutes like we did against Darlington.

“There's no doubting the ability in the group, it's just having a strong mental edge that can back this up”.

Charlie Addiman

October 10, 2016