A DREADED and dreadful draw pitches Cinderford into the worst possible scenario in the prestigious fifth round of the EDF Energy Trophy. They play Birmingham and Solihull, away.
Not only do they concede home advantage, they have been drawn to play in Birmingham against one of the most poorly supported teams left in the competition and on a ground where they received a good old fashioned thrashing earlier in the season.
"It's the worst possible draw. Birmingham get no crowd – when we went there early in the season we had as many as them – so there will be no money in it for us. At the same time they are a very good side and a win there will be very difficult to achieve," said Cinderford's commercial manager, Matt Bayliss.
Watching a game of rugby in Cinderford has been rare of late. Saturday's cup match was the first at Dockham for seven weeks. And now the club faces three more Saturdays on the road.
"It's Southend away this Saturday and then a cross country trip to play Cambridge followed by our journey to play Birmingham and Solihull on February 7. It means we will have played just one home game in two and a half months.
"Sadly, it means no money and a real battle to achieve any glory," said Bayliss.
Peter Glanville, Cinderford's director of rugby, welcomed Saturday's game and was delighted to get a victory.
The Foresters were ring-rusty and missed some scoring chances but Glanville said that was understandable after such a long period without a game.
In trying conditions a try in each half scored by winger Charlie Simpson-Daniel was enough to take Cinderford into the last 16.
CINDERFORD: D. Trigg; A Macrae, T. Wilson, D. Knight, C. Simpson-Daniel, F. Burns, P. Knight, G. Evans, C. McNeil, A. Nicholls, D. Wright, R. Fidler, A. Deacon, C. Hall, J. Meadows. Reps: N. Matthews, T. Stevenson, R. James, P. Greenaway, J. Carter, C. Bundy, N. Bayliss.