NOTTINGHAM gave themselves a great chance of clinching a
play-off place, beating Jersey 20-13 in their re-arranged RFU
Championship fixture.
The original game had to be postponed at the last minute as the
St Peter pitch was unplayable.
It was certainly better on this occasion, but still heavy, and
made life difficult for both sides.
Nottingham had to grind out victory, at one stage reduced to 13
men following yellow cards in quick succession for Joe Duffey and
Michael Holford. But a much-improved second-half performance saw
them take the points and further consolidate second place on the
league table.
It was the home side who drew first blood, forcing a try to take
a 7-nil lead before themselves being reduced in numbers with Mark
Foster sent to the sin bin.
James Arlidge missed the resulting penalty but soon made amends
with Nottingham's first points, and it remained 7-3 until the
break.
It took some heroic defence to maintain that score as the yellow
cards came, along with a series of close range scrums.
A second penalty from Arlidge early in the second-half brought
them back to within a point, as Nottingham began to get the upper
hand.
A pushover try from skipper Brent Wilson, converted by Arlidge,
made it 7-13 but again Jersey had a good spell and camped deep in
the visitors' 22.
All they had to show for that pressure though was a penalty for
Michael Le Bourgeois to bring it back to 10-13.
Another Wilson pushover and Arlidge conversion gave Nottingham a
ten-point lead before a long range penalty from Le Bourgeois made
it 13-20.
The closing stages were frenetic and the home side again pushed
strongly, but the Green and Whites managed to hold on to the
points.