Wisbech outplayed by Mistley in league defeat at Harecroft Road

Wisbech welcomed Mistley to Harecroft Road looking to turn the tide of recent form.

In the opening exchanges, Wisbech looked powerful and scrum-half Zac Lakey scored to put them ahead.

From here, Wisbech were then completely outplayed by a Mistley team that dominated possession and territory.

Discipline issues saw James Napier spending 10 minutes in the sin bin and Mistley took full advantage scoring a penalty and a try.

The injury woes of Wisbech were added to as Rory Willis was forced to leave the field injured replaced by utility player MJ Wright.

Wright’s strong defending and resolute counter-attacks kept Wisbech in the game, going into half-time 5-10 to the visitors.

Mistley started the second half stronger, continuing in the same vein as they finished the first half.

Wisbech were left clutching at ghosts as Mistley scored again.

Despite Solomon Prestidge and others persevering in trying to find a way back into the game, it was one of those days when it just did not seem to click.

Wisbech seemed to find their familiar strong tempo game in the last five minutes which saw them rewarded with a penalty try.

Director of rugby Leonard Veenendaal said: “It was a frustrating performance from us, we good put it down to global warming or Brexit but in reality, we were just not good enough.

“As a club, we are better than this and set ourselves high standards, which we are not achieving at this stage, but there is a lot of work going on to address it."

Wisbech travel to Ipswich on Saturday for round nine of the Counties 2 Eastern Counties League fixtures.

The following day, the club's U18 Colts travelled to Shelford for a three-way fixture with Shelford and Mersea Island.

Wisbech overcame a stubborn Mersea 21-5 but despite a tremendous effort lost 14-0 to high-flying Shelford.

Coach Luke Hare said: “Due to unavailability we travelled with a smaller-than-usual squad but the boys played their hearts out putting in an effort they and the club can be very proud of."