2013/14 will see Sedge enter a second team back in the basement division, so it only seems fitting the first trip down memory lane of this campaign takes us back to an old A-team fixture from yesteryear. Comedic journalism brought to you by Mr James Sharp...

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Match Date: 12/02/11
Competition: Pennine League Division 7
Result: South Bradford 12 Odsal Sedbergh A 46

Odsal retain bragging rights in dominant attacking display
By James Sharp

There was some very strange occurrences down in Woodside this Saturday, with the derby passing without any untoward, aging forward Tony Ellison finding his dancing shoes to beat half of a broken Souths defence on a mazy run, and Lee Birkett scoring a hat-trick. No, really. It happened.

In a game that promised a fiery contest, the pitch had proved a factor in dictating the pace of the game, as, with the narrow space forcing the game to played between the forwards in the early stages, it left the pitch to cut up and the slippery conditions created an error ridden opening.

When the game settled down from the early errors, Odsal began to find some rhythm in attack and built pressure on the larger Souths pack to create space on the flanks, for Scott Smith to use a cut out ball to put Twinny on his way down the touchline and squeeze in the corner to give Sedge an early lead.

Once in the lead however, Sedge took their foot off the gas, and silly errors had put pressure on the Odsal line which eventually told when the Souths half-back had jinked his way through some sloppy defence, and following the conversion Odsal found themselves behind against their nearest and dearest for the first time this season.

But, that wasn’t the case for long, with Aaron Scholes crashing over from close range after a delightful face pass after sucking the defence to the dummy run close to pivot Ryan Exley, who was returning to his former club, with stand off James Sharp adding the extras to return Odsal’s four point lead.

Sedge then began to build more pressure on the Souths line, with Exley guiding the team around the park along with energetic hooker Robert Booth to tire out the larger park of the home team. Booth was next to add his name to the score sheet, another close range try against the tiring defence, and almost a carbon copy followed soon after with loose forward Scott Smith touching down after an audacious dummy had fooled the first marker and he kept low to crash over.

After being nutmegged from a kick off and returning the ball to Souths, work horse forward Tony Ellisondecided to show the backs how to use quick feet by evading three or four defenders to lay the platform for yet another Sedge attack, and with Souths coming away from their own line, an error was seized upon by Lee Birkett who sprinted in from 640 yards. That is not a typo, just ask him.

An impressive half from Sedge ended with them in the ascendancy and the team looked confident with the hosts’ fitness levels always dwindling. Another scrappy period of the game had opened the second stanza, but away from the scoreboard a few moments of note; an interception from Aaron Scholes relieving pressure and putting Sedge on the attack, an enormous tackle from centre Josh Briggs in which the recipient’s gasps could be heard and also, hooker Booth fell in a puddle. Nice.

Odsal further showed their dominance in the second half, with the halves once again controlling play, and scrum half Exley showing his kicking game which put further pressure on the Souths own line. This pressure eventually told, as some tenacious defence forced errors from the home outfit. Odsal’s lead was further extended with close range efforts from prop Joe Bartle, James Sharp, Robert Booth with his second, and miraculously Lee Birkett firstly overpowering some strong goal line defence from Souths, and then managing to evade the Souths defence to complete his hat-trick, in which was a routine victory for an Odsal side returning to form after a derby win against a strong Wyke ‘A’ team last week.

Although local pride was at stake, it never looked out of the grasp of a Sedge team who are really starting to look good working together now a little more consistency has been found with team selections.

The defence displayed by Sedge will need to be evident again in the coming week, as they face a challenge away at division five outfit Newsome in the supplementary cup with a huge task to pull off an upset against a team that has lost only three times this term, but as shown last year by the team who enjoy the under-dog status, anything is possible in the cup.