Douglas shot themselves in the foot as Waterloo escaped Port-e-Chee with a precious win in their battle to avoid the relegation play-offs in Regional Two North West.
Douglas scored two second-half tries right out of the top drawer to establish a 25-19 lead with eight minutes left on the clock, but couldn’t close out the result as errors, injuries and a yellow card continued to blight the Manx side.
Matty Wood started the Douglas ball rolling on a pristine Port-e-Chee pitch with a lacerating twentieth-minute midfield break and raced away on a 39-metre run to score under the posts.
Conversion
The conversion was a formality for 7-0, and Wood kept his eye in with a 35-metre penalty kick to stretch the lead to 10-0.
Waterloo hoovered up loose Douglas kicking out of defence and in a strong six-minute spell went in front with two tries.
Twenty-two stone prop Kurt Riley burrowed through, and flanker Joshua Critchley outpaced the cover when Douglas first line tackling was found wanting. James Radcliffe added the extras for 10-14 at half-time, but it was Douglas first on the score sheet after the break.
A thundering run from Douglas front-row man Conor Garland set up position, and referee Daryl Richards penalised Waterloo at the breakdown for Wood to kick a second penalty and 13-14.
Kicking Possession Away
Douglas were prone to kicking possession away which played in to Waterloo hands, and it needed Harry Hewson’s defensive resilience to keep the Douglas line intact.
Harry Cartwright took a knock and was replaced by Ian Larson, Wood and the hard-charging Josh Campbell were both very second-hand, and a rash moment from flanker Mark Oldfield earned him a yellow card.
Then a sloppy Douglas pass in midfield gave Waterloo a counter opportunity, and the broken field pace of fullback Owen Davies was enough to clinch the reward and 13-19.
Douglas responded with Campbell and Blake Snell putting Waterloo on the back foot, and from a perfectly weighted chip through, Kyle Martin’s blistering speed got him to the ball as it crossed the Waterloo whitewash.
Josh Duncan added the two-point conversion for 20-19 with fifteen to play, and then produced the try of the match.
Deceptive Pace
Sheldon Higgins got the ball away between Waterloo bodies to Duncan, 35 metres from the Waterloo line and on the choicest of running lines.
His deceptive pace took him through and past two prospective tacklers, and he dismissed the covering fullback to blaze over. At 25-19 with eight minutes to play, this was one that shouldn’t have got away, but it did, and in desperate fashion.
Again Douglas were unable to control possession or territory, and Davies escaped towards the right hand corner and the Douglas try line.
A despairing covering Douglas tackle in the corner was deemed high and a penalty try awarded – an automatic seven-pointer without the need to attempt a touchline conversion – for a 25-26 result.
Douglas remain in fifth and the promotion play-off hunt, courtesy of the losing bonus point keeping the Manx side one point ahead of Widnes where Douglas travel to in a couple of weeks.
Douglas squad – C Garland, J Campbell, O Carvin, E Kermode, B Snell (cap), B Everson, H Cartwright, M Oldfield, N Robson, J Duncan, M Wood, H Hewson, K Martin, O Corkish, S Higgins, W Kermode, R Bell, I Larson