Bold will be pleased to have come away with the 2 league points from this game against a very spirited Spring View side who came short of numbers but played with a lot of pride and passion for the full 80 minutes. The Miners will however know that they must continue to improve in some areas if they want to remain around the top of the table.

Bold were guilty of handling errors early in each of their opening sets instantly putting pressure on themselves and despite the defensive efforts of Kelvin Walkden, Paul Johnson, Josh Comber and Andy Murray, Spring View were first on the scoresheet as centre Thomas Draper stepped his way through some unorganized defence to score a converted try for an early 6 point lead.

Good defence won Bold the ball back and strong running from Tommy Higgins,Andy Murray and Adam Welsby won the home side a penalty and from this set Tommy Higgins and Liam Crehan paved the way for Kelvin Walkden to spot a gap in the defence and go through for great solo effort which was converted by Ian Webster to tie the scores. From the restart determined running from Webster and Mark Shaw saw Bold straight back into their opponents 20 but they were unable to come away with any more points on this occasion. When asked to defend Bold held solid led by tackling from Johnson, Andy Leyland and Crehan. Bold went on the attack again when Gary Talbot spied his chance to break from dummy half and ran most of the length of the pitch and found Mark Shaw in support but he was unable to get the ball down as he went for the corner.

Both teams were defending well as the 2 forward packs tried to gain advantage over the other, but it was the Miners with the next try as Adam Welsby produced the perfect dummy to open up the defence and go over for the try but he missed the chance to convert his own try. Straight from the kick off runs from Dave Quigley, Mark Shaw, Liam Crehan and Kelvin Walkden saw Bold once again get into good position with out adding to their tally. Spring View were now on attack and though there was good tackling from Shaw, Johnson and Comber had it not been for a knock on the visitors would have registered their second try. The away side remained the prominent attacking team at this stage and defensively Talbot, Comber and Welsby held them out and a good kick to the ingoal on the 5th had to be kicked out by Gary Talbot for a drop out as the attackers chased down looking for the touchdown.

A string of penalties to both teams meant a lack of opportunity for either side in the next exchanges but on their next attack, strong runs from Comber, Neil Hilton, Talbot and Colin Slater put Bold in good position and this allowed Kelvin Walkden the opportunity to dance his way through in trademark fashion to claim his 2nd try which was again converted by Webster. Good running from the kickoff by Stu Cranny and Higgins but a penalty conceded gave Spring View the ball in good position and on this occasion they registered their second score as they stretched the Bold defence and hooker Adam Hesketh twisted his way through tacklers close to the line to get the ball down for an unconverted try and leave the score at 16-10.

Good defence led by Andrew O'Dowd, Cranny and Johnson pegged back the opposition and excellent play between Talbot and Walkden led to the scrum half completing his hat-trick and the try was converted by Adam Welsby. Great runs from the kickoff from Liam Crehan and Colin Slater but once again the ball was lost and Bold were back defending and strong defence from Hilton & Johnson closed out the half with Miners benefitting from a 22-10 lead.

Bold kicked off the second half and a big run from the opposition prop forward was stopped by the ever ready Talbot and Leyland, Bold were defending for much of the opening period but Johnson, Crehan, Cranny and Higgins led the defence to hold the opposition at bay. Josh Comber and Paul Johnson produced the position for Paul Martin to go on a jinking run but was held just short when he looked likely to score. Good tackling again from Crehan, Johnson, Hilton and O'Dowd won the ball back for the Miners and on attack another usual run from Liam Crehan saw him go 30/40 metres as he burst through would be tacklers.

Even though they were in a comfortable lead Bold had a lapse in concentration and a lack of discipline and ball control led to the visitors coming back into the game strongly. Penalty after penalty went against the Miners and the team seemed to have lost their heads and was causing panic amongst the home fans. Talbot marshalled the troops and his talk had seemed to perk the home side up and another tremendous drive from Liam Crehan and more good work from Talbot, Walkden and Webster almost created the opportunity for Slater to score in the corner.

All of the action now seemed to be concentrated deep in the Miners half as they continued to make errors and concede penalties and Spring View threw everything at them but the defence from Johnson, Walkden, Talbot, O'Dowd and Webster held them out initially, but all the pressure was to tell as Adam Hesketh claimed his 2nd try of the game which was converted to reduce the gap to 6 points and gave the visitors the chance to push for at least a share of the points in the final few minutes.

Spring View again came strong both in attack and defence and piled the presure on in what remained of the game but Bold were able to hold on and claim the points in what was a very tough hard fought battle for 80 minutes.

The Grundy Excavations man of the match was Kelvin Walkden and he was pushed close by Talbot, Crehan & captain Paul Johnson who was once more the top tackler.

Bold's players and coaches were unhappy with some areas of their game in particular set completion and discipline, however full credit must go to the visiting Spring View team who came with bare 13 men and played for the full 80 minutes and it won't be long before they get their first win of the year if they can get a full squad out.

Team:

1 Ian Webster
2 Dave Quigley
3 Andy Leyland
4 Mark Shaw
5 Colin Slater
6 Adam Welsby
7 Kelvin Walkden
8 Andy Murray
9 Gary Talbot
10 Liam Crehan
11 Tommy Higgins
12 Josh Comber
13 Paul Johnson

14 Andrew O'Dowd
15 Stu Cranny
16 Neil Hilton
17 Paul Martin