DK 97, Sutton Coldfield 26

RUTHLESS Dudley Kingswinford secured a Midlands One West play-off place as they put Sutton to the sword at Heathbrook.

DK bagged their biggest victory of the campaign to book a date against Midlands One East counterparts Paviors on April 27.

The hosts dominated from the off and had chalked up the try bonus point inside the opening 15 minutes after a breathless start in front of their home fans.

The impressive Dan Marsh was the first over with just three minutes on the clock following a neat break from Jordan Brookes. Sam Vaughan landed the conversion to set his side on course.

Sutton answered just two minutes later as Sean Harrison was forced over following a catch and drive from the lineout.

Despite that setback, DK were in no mood to surrender second spot on the final day of the regular season.

Their dominance in the scrum quickly had them back on the front foot.

Brooks was again at the heart of the action to provide the well-time offload for James Fildes to crash home. Vaughan again added the extras.

It was all too easy for the powerful DK runners to break the gain line.

This set up quick-fire tries for Jake Thompson and Brookes, the second converted by Vaughan, as the score moved to 26-5 with the bonus point in the bag on 15 minutes.

Still DK attacked and still they were rewarded as Stef Shillingford’s cross field kick was gathered by Charles Baffour to power over.

The hosts were running riot and a yellow card for the visitors only added to their woes as further scores through Tom Walker, Will Hancocks, Vaughan and a second for Baffour took the score to 55-5.

Spirited Sutton did mount an effort approaching the break and secured their second try of the afternoon when Tom Burrows burst through. Ben Morgan added the extras to make it 55-12 at half time.

Sutton were then the quicker out the blocks in the second period as DK’s penalty count began to rise.

However, despite that pressure, it was the home side that still recorded the first score of the second period as Marsh seized upon a loose ball after a Sutton knock on and ran from inside his own half to bag his second of the game. Vaughan again converted.

Further tries for Joe Dunn, Shillingford and Matt Perks, all converted by Vaughan, saw DK race away to an impressive 83-12 lead just past the hour mark.

Still Sutton persevered and were rewarded with two tries of their own as DK slowed and started to miss tackles heading into the final 10 minutes.

Despite the Sutton rally, DK forged their way back onto the front foot to wrap up the win in style.

Another well-executed drive from the line-out sent Matt Perks over before Shillingford left the defence trailing to make it 97-26.

DK fell just shy of double figures but the ruthless showing sets them up perfectly for their promotion battle at Paviors.

DK: Williams, Fildes, Thompson, Perks, Marsh, Nicholls, Brown, Griffiths, Jones, Brookes, Baffour, Hancox, Shillingford (c), Walker, Vaughan.

Replacements: Ryan, Hawkins, Dunn.