Honours Even at Ormskirk

Two well matched sides play out a draw.

After last weeks enjoyable trip over to Sedgely, the 11s ended up travelling to Ormskirk for a home tie!!! Don't ask!
Due to the switch of venues, we were a player and coach down as Lee, thinking it was a home fixture, had already booked a meal for his family to celebrate his 30th birthday at a local restaurant straight after the game. His use of algorithms in his notebook to work out who was replacing who on the line to make sure all the boys had the same game time was sorely missed as Chris, Mick and Pete didn't have a clue. We tried our best and hopefully didn't upset anybody!
The game began, and straight away we could tell it was going to be a tight game. Ormskirk attacking, Blackburn defending, Blackburn attacking, Ormskirk defending. Blackburn needed to move the ball a little wider a little quicker to take advantage of the Ormskirk narrow defence but too often, it was taken in and looking for the pass was a second option. However, towards the end of the 1st half, Blackburn attacked the Ormskirk line and with only metres to go were held up. Quick thinking by a Blackburn player (sorry can't remember who it was) passed the ball to Noah on the blindside, who sneaked in for a try or so we thought. Unfortunately, the dodgy touch judge (our very own Chris) adjudged him to have put a foot in touch. The crowd couldn't believe it! Try disallowed and the game remained scoreless, 0-0, at half time.
The second half started much the same as the 1st, going from end to end with both teams defending well. It needed something special to break the deadlock and we were not disappointe. The deadlock was broken through a try from Ben, after typical strong, weaving run. Ormskirk rallied and caught the Blackburn defence napping. A strong run saw an Ormskirk player break through a weak tackle and sprint from halfway to level the scores. A disappointing score but the lads showed they weren't disheartened and went on the attack again. Stopped short again a few metres from the line, the ball was moved away from the ruck quickly, which gave Ollie the opportunity to hit the space between two defenders and put Blackburn ahead, 2-1. It was nip and tuck for the next 5 to 10 minutes with Blackburn trying to hold on for the win but Ormskirk were not having any of it and equalised. With 5 minutes left the game was up for grabs, either side could have won it. An Ormskirk player again, broke through the Blackburn defence, only to be caught 10 metres out with a great try saving tackle from James. Blackburn fought back but unfortunately, a try was not forthcoming and the game ended in a 2-2 draw. On reflection, probably a fair result although it would have been a victory if it hadn't been for a dodgy touch judge!
Next week we travel to Burnley which should be another close game as we drew 8-8 at Blackburn earlier in the season.
Squad: Alfie, Davey, Ollie, Caleb, James, Ben, Bryn, Reuben, Noah, Rocco, Charlie.