PETERBOROUGH LIONS 35 SPALDING RFC 8: Town were by no means outclassed as they suffered a derby defeat at league leaders Lions on Saturday.
With the city side having won all nine of their previous home games, relegation-threatened Town knew they were up against it.
To make their task even harder, regular fly half Dave Hankinson was unavailable.
But new boy Rhys Thompson certainly made his mark as his replacement – as did twin brother Callum,who came off the bench towards the end of the match.
Both young guns look to have an exciting future at the Memorial Field club.
Lions opened the scoring on ten minutes when talented fly half Duncan Low broke through to score under the posts, leaving an easy conversion.
Spalding then went in search of a score of their own, with Harry Brown breaking from the base in an attack that eventually took Town to the home 22. But Lions won the ball from a lineout and turned defence into attack, crossing the line for a second converted score under the posts.
Spalding got on the scoreboard after 30 minutes when they were awarded a penalty, with Rhys Thompson stepping up to the mark.
But another Lions try left Town 21-3 down – and although Kev Childs was stopped just short of the line from a decent Town attack, that’s how it stayed at the break.
By 55 minutes the game had gone for the visitors, with two more Peterborough converted tries leaving Spalding a hefty 35-3 down.
That didn’t deter the away side though, as they continued to play some good rugby.
They were eventually rewarded with a try of their own, as skipper Sharman passed to centre Harry Harrison, who used his speed to beat the first tackler and dived over the line for an unconverted score.
The loss leaves Town in the bottom two ahead of Saturday’s trip to rivals Market Rasen and Louth (2.15pm).
Spalding RFC: Harry Sharman, Peter Waudby, Craig Dowse, Jimmy Rowlands, Ash Anker, Tom Duerden, Ed Duerden, Harry Brown, Rob Lucas, Rhys Thomson, Kevin Childs, Ryan Chappell, Harry Harrison, Ben Williamson, Adam Mchugh, Ollie Lake, Callum Thomson and Harry Winch.
• Saturday: Market Rasen & Louth v Town (2.15pm).