THE long trip back was an unhappy one for Luctonians, who had to contend with several dubious refereeing decisions in their 25-23 defeat at Peterborough.
The journey had clearly affected on the visitors, who conceded a try within five minutes of the kick off when Dave Harding-Prior crossed for Peterborough.
The hosts were unable to convert and Lucs got in back with a penalty from scrum-half Jamie Simpson. Poor defence brought Peterborough’s next score, when Duncan Low took advantage of some missed tackles to race over for an unconverted try to make it 10-3.
Jolted into action, Lucs surged upfield and after some incisive back play, fullback Mike Thompson showed pace and power to score in the corner. The conversion was missed which left Lucs trailing by three points with half time looming, but thanks to an opportunist score from second row Trevor Bufton, the visitors were able to snatch the lead.
After poor lineout ball Peterborough scrum-half Paul Humphrey fumbled, allowing Bufton to scoop the ball and run in from 40m.
Within two minutes Lucs got a controversial decision from the home side’s 15-year-old touch judge, who did not signal when his winger ran off the field and back on with the ball. Even the Peterborough supporters were stunned but recovered to celebrate Max Guseinov’s try to make it 15-13 to the hosts at half time.
Playing up the slope after the break, determined Lucs regained the lead when a neat break from Thompson was followed up by good support from centre Leon Mells who raced over to give Simpson the easy conversion.
Lucs No 8 Paul Hulland was contentiously sin-binned for entering the breakdown from the side. Low kicked the penalty to put his side two points away.
Lucs cause was not helped when back row Alexandru Mitu sin-binned moments after Hulland returned.
Lucs extended the lead with a Simpson penalty for 23-18 – but the ref’s whistle was their undoing.
With five minutes left and Lucs defending resolutely, they seemed to have earned a penalty.But the referee’s decision favoured the home side and Peterborough took a quick tapped penalty and sent second row Jon Phillips over for another disputed try with Lucs claiming the ball had not been grounded. Low converted.
The final eight minutes were all Lucs they could not break through.
