It has been said over the course of this season that this Hertford team is on a journey, and the supporters have been sure that the journey has being going somewhere good. As espoused by the 'Bard from the Balcony' last week, the best teams that have been produced by this club have been based on a core of young players that have battled and developed together. We have certainly seen battling and development over the course of this season. That development was epitomised by Ben Gilchrist, one of the later season newbies being awarded the deserved Man of the Match accolade.

Almost all of the home games have demonstrated strong grounds for encouragement and pointers for the future. Whilst the Civil Service defeat was crushing for the supporters, it provided an opportunity for the team to show their resilience and good old fashioned bouncebackability (albeit old fashioned in the sense that Generation Xers used it in the early 2000s), as they went on an 'unprecedented', for this season, three game winning streak against the 4th placed side, the outright league leaders, and then the closest relegation rival.

This performance has been in the making, and that it came out in such a key game is testament to the commitment of many different people. The most visible commitment is shown by the players on the pitch - whether that be Joannou, the Colossus of Nicosia, thundering into contact, or Basra making two last ditch desperate ankle tackles against Sidcup backs as they threatened to break through to score. But there is the commitment of the players off the pitch, Hewitt flying back from New York on the morning of the game, and McGurk travelling back from university in Newcastle. But is it also, literally, the blood, sweat, and tears that the Hertford coaches have put into this season; one of the toughest, but hopefully also one of the most rewarding seasons that the club has faced in its 90 years. The supporters have also been there almost all the way, including the likes of the Thursday night supporters club and Mazzo, and the repeated good crowds at Hoe Lane.

There is a claustrophobic neurosis to relegation, it becomes all-consuming and ever more inward looking but also acutely aware of what teams are doing around you. Nonetheless, the threat of relegation has brought people together in adversity, as the club has rallied round the flag and laptops trying to work the various permeations and RFU regulations.

The tension has been building over some time, but the 'must win' epithet should be the option of last resort. With games in hand and ever improving performances, the dial was not quite at 'must win' for the Sidcup game but it was getting close. From the outset, the players showed the commitment and intensity that had been so evident in the Tring game, as they absorbed the pressure in the first half and erupted in the second half. There was certainly no tension by the end, and with all of the other teams around Hertford losing on Saturday and failing to get any bonus points, there is finally for the first time this season some breathing space between Hertford and the relegation zone. Indeed, Hertford are now ahead of Civil Service on points difference. There is still a lot to play for, but this was a big step forward.

By contrast, Sidcup know what their challenge is and still have significant control over their outcome as they now play Medway, Civil Service, and then the probably already promoted Westcombe Park.

The Hertford team on Saturday was a familiar one, and just a couple of changes from the week before as McGurk came back into the back row with Stone and Fry injured, and Hale and Cavlan back in the team as subs.

Over the last 3 home games the trend has been to have a thunderous battle down the slope in the first half, showing some dominance to establish slim leads: 11-7 against Civil Service, 15-5 Tring, and this time 14-10. Whereas the Civil Service game went wrong after half time, the dominance told against Tring as Hertford ran out comfortable winners 29-10, and against Sidcup the team finally let rip. Just as the bulbs have burst forth with spring, this young team burst forth in the second half to show their true colours. In doing so, Hertford scored 1/7th of the total points that they have scored over the entire 18 game season!

Sidcup showed their game plan from the outset by utilising a bruising bulldozing scrum, and were awarded a penalty to go 3-0 up.

Hertford responded straight with a taster of what would come in the second half. Batty broke through 3 tackles after fielding a kick from full back, Keens charged onwards, and Batty came in at fly half to release the pace and movement of Rudling from 30 metres out, who was able to cut inside and go in under the posts. 7-3.

The two packs of forwards hogged a lot of the ball, and Hertford were penalised for what looked like some aggressive hugging. Sidcup kicked into the Hertford 22 and didn’t seem to leave it for about 10 minutes. Hertford sucked in all of the phases from Sidcup, but could not get free of their 22. There were repeated scrums as Sidcup put on the squeeze. After one too many penalties Banna was given a yellow. With an easy 3 points on offer, Sidcup opted for the scrum. It may have been at this point that the referee was invited to look at what was happening on the blindside, and after intense pressure, Hertford were awarded the penalty (and indeed the next scrum penalty after that). Huge cheers from the clubhouse side. The team had done incredibly well to hold on and not concede anything. Hertford were finally able to get into the Sidcup half. A solid lineout move, followed by a strong leg drive from Gilchrist, resulted in Hewitt battering over to score. 14-3.

We then lost Hewitt to the sin bin, and in his absence the Sidcup scrum finally got what it had deserved and with the last play of the half get a converted push over try to make it 14-10.

The first half was just the sort of tense tussle that has been common place this season; the second half was a joy. Indeed, it was pretty difficult to keep up with the game and even the Sidcuppers confessed that they lost track of the score.

Hertford game out for second half with real composure and the backs caused havoc. This initially led to two kickable penalties that Lemon sensibly chose to take and extend the lead to 20-10.

After that the fun started, with the players opened up and attacking from all angles. After a couple of short line patient bursts, the unstoppable Banna charged over from 10 metres to make it 27-10. This was then followed by the best first phase move that has been seen at Hoe Lane this season. It is something that Coach Gregg has obviously been saving up, with the centres running hard and interchanging, and the ball coming back to the looping Holman who glided in from the 22 metre line. 34-10.

Hale came on at scrum half, and the tempo went up yet another notch. Almost straight away, Joannou did a Ben Storey basketballer impression in his one handed offload to Rudling who went over for his second. 39-10.

This is what watching Hertford should be like.

Bellringer put in one of his, now, trademark humdinger kicks that bamboozled the Sidcup defence and scuttled into the 22 as Hale almost gathered it to score. Hewitt also put in a chip and chase for himself and seemed to ground it, much to the pleasure of the joyous crowd, but it was not allowed.

The pressure was unrelenting and Hale found space on the blindside to score to make it 44-10, and Keens roared as the forwards were finally allowed to have the ball again and decided that a rolling maul was the best way to try and get the half century. Lemon, assured all day with the boot, slotted his conversion to make it 51-10.

There was just time for Sidcup to finish the game with a final try. 51-15.

Job done for the day. And breathe.

Up next over the next 4 Saturdays are: Harpenden away; Sudbury away; Medway at home (Ladies Day - book it in); and finally Colchester on 18 March (otherwise known as Termites Touring Day).

Team: Josh Hewitt, Steff Jones, Christy Basra, Sonny Swift, James Keens, Chris Joannou, Callum McGurk, Alex Banna; Dom Merrett, Harry Holman, Arun Johal, Ben Gilchrist, Josh Rudling, Kyle Lemon ©

Craig Bellringer, David Hale, Harry Cavlan

Tries: Rudling 2, Hewitt, Banna, Holman, Hale, Keens,

Cons: Lemon 5

Pens: Lemon 2

Player of the match: Ben Gilchrist (awarded by Scott Carpenter of Mtec)

It was great to see Billy Windsock back up the club taking the photos and bringing the game to life for those supporters who couldn’t be there, and to fill in the gaps for the those supporters that were there but got distracted.