The previous fixture away at Burnley saw Thornton come away with a 33-19 victory, so Thornton hoped to do the same again. With skipper Jamie Beecher still injured Dan Powell took the reins.
The game kicked off from a Thornton boot which was chased down and secured by a Thornton player. The first five minutes was full of handling errors and turnovers for both teams resulting in multiple scrums. The heavier and older Burnley front row managed to turn the Thornton scrum to win possession back inside their own half, where they sent it deep into Thornton’s territory. Caught by the fullback and with the Burnley pack charging him down he sidestepped around the outside of the slow opposition to find himself with a two on one supported from the one and only Martin Whelan, cue the chant ...... Wheeeeeeeelllloooooo. Thornton opened the scoring and unable to convert, it was 5-0.
Burley restarted the game with a high kick that was caught from Heather (aka Matt Smiles) where he took a big hit but managed to place the ball back for the scrum half to play the ball to Leon Mason, who was showing how versatile he is playing at 10 as Sean Donnelly was called up to the first team. Leon passed the Ball out to the “Ginger Assassin” Rick Brown who got tackled by an extremely quick defence. At the back of the ruck Rob Fallows picked up and charged down the blind side, forgetting he isn’t in a tank now. Over the half way line Thornton go, still on the attack Rick Brown popped the ball out to the fullback to run around the opposition once again with support from the winger. Thornton score again, and unable to convert, lead 10-0.
With the pressure on Burnley and still early in the game, the Burnley pack press to the corner. Some big hits from Raj Hutchinson slowed the Burnley attack down. The Thornton defence fight back the attack on their own try line, but the determination from the opposition was rewarded with a try. Thornton was just ahead at half time, 10-5.
The second half saw a couple changes to the squad, one involving the young and eager Blackpool and Fylde college lad, Nathan Baines (without his trademark Mohawk) to wing and Harry Stephenson to prop. The front row between Aaron Farnworth, Harry and Timber (Dave Jones) now matched the Burnley pack for weight, age and beauty. With Thornton putting evermore pressure on, they resulted in a penalty in front of the sticks, the score now 13-5.
Not willing to call it a day just yet, Burnley remained an annoying presence in this game, attacking hard and straight and drawing in the Thornton players to the breakdowns. It came down to Sunil Hutchinson, the younger brother of prop Raj, to show that size isn’t everything by tackling low and hard. Once again the Burnley determination got them a try, 13-10.
Not long after the Burnley try and Thornton were sprinting down the wing following Chris Jackson with the ball, after beating his opposite winger the fullback brought him to ground. Quick in pursuit was Andy Forbes, where he picked the ball up at the back of the ruck and ran a sideways until a space opening in the middle of the field to be finally stopped by two players. The resulting breakdown resulted with a Thornton penalty. The score now 16-10.
Burnley managed to regain possession fairly soon after the restart, and at the ruck Burnley were awarded a penalty, in a “Pete Rae” style, Tony Newton whilst led on the floor picked the ball up from the back of the Burnley ruck to roll and place the ball back for Thornton, right in front of the ref. The ball was won back from the lineout which was cleared away. Poor handling from the Burnley fullback allowed for Thornton to dive on the ball. The forwards did what they did best and went blind tying in more Burnley players. With the back line all set and screaming for it Pete Aston made use of the space and scored right under the posts. With the conversion it was 23-10.
It came to the last few minutes and the game almost over the Burnley back line fumbled under the pressure, the ball was kicked through past the Burnley centre and with another bit of footballing, Dave Snelson passed the ball past the fullback to pick up and score. Thornton ends the game 30-10.
The constant battle for possession throughout the game made this a well earned victory with the last two Thornton trys coming from the last 10 minutes. Every player who put on the black and red jersey put their body on the line to win this game. The Man of the Match awards could have gone to a few people this week but one player stood out more, the energy and intensity brought into the game in all aspects inspired the players around him, Michael Docherty won MOM.
With the unfortunate loss away to Blackburn last week, Thornton remains in 5th position in the league and 10 points behind second place promotion. It may still be possible to compete for promotion with the last four games. So let’s try and make at least one training session each week so the whole team can work on its cohesion and set pieces to get a firm hold over this league.