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Glossop 23 - Heaton Moor 32
David Todd19 Dec 2024 - 17:41
First double
Moor played away at Glossop last Saturday, having not played a game for two weeks as their home game against Tarleton the week before had been cancelled due to a waterlogged pitch, courtesy of Storm Darragh. As a result, this was the first ‘return’ fixture of the season and much like the earlier encounter between the sides in September, it was a closely-fought affair, with the lead changing hands a number of times. Fortunately for Moor, the result was the same, thus providing them with their first ‘double' victory of the season.
Glossop kicked off and play was mainly confined to their visitor’s half of the field for the opening minutes, where they stayed until they had opened their account. This came from a lineout that Moor lost, and to compound the error, they then knocked-on in attempting to halt the subsequent attack by the home side, gifting the latter a scrum some ten metres out. From here, Glossop picked up, went down the blindside and forced their way over to score in the corner, followed by an excellent conversion. Moor immediately replied however, as from a lineout following the restart, the ball was swiftly passed along their three-quarter line to left-winger Myles Maclagan, who brushed off the defence to squeeze in at the corner; the conversion being missed. Play was then confined mainly between the 22-metre lines of both sides, with the hosts edging the possession stakes, although neither side looked as if they would trouble the scoreboard. Moor did come closest to adding to their total on a couple of occasions, but in both cases, unforced errors put paid to these attempts. Midway through the first period, Moor were again on the attack in the opposition’s 22 and had set up a rolling maul following a lineout, only for the ball to be stripped from their possession, enabling Glossop to break out and put in a speculative chip ahead, causing the Moor cover to turn and chase back. On recovering the ball just inside their own 22, they were then penalised for not releasing in a subsequent tackle and the penalty was kicked to touch by the hosts. On winning the lineout, Glossop recycled the ball along their back line, followed by a series of rucks, ending with an unconverted try. Play again returned to midfield with the sides cancelling each other out and just as it looked as if no further score would result, Moor set up one final attack as they took play towards their opponent’s line, but when only five metres short, they were again penalised for not releasing in a tackle. The hosts then cleared their lines, to set up their own attack and forced the visitors into conceding two penalties in quick succession, the second of which enabled them to kick a penalty goal, bringing the first half to a close and a deserved 15-5 lead for Glossop.
In the second half, Moor’s fortunes improved, due in part to a rearrangement of the line-up and as a result, it proved to be a more open game, with the lead changing hands no less than five times. Straight away from the start, Glossop were penalised at a lineout and a quickly taken tap-penalty by Moor was passed out to Maclagan, who set off up his wing and out-paced the cover to score an unconverted try. They scored again directly following the restart, when inter-passing between forwards and backs, took Moor up to the opposition’s line and following a series of rucks, centre Adam Heal crossed to touch down, converted by replacement fly-half Jacob Atherton. With less than five minutes of the half completed, Moor now found themselves in the lead for the first time in the match, but ten minutes later were again behind after the home side kicked a penalty goal. This followed a sustained period of pressure by Glossop, but Moor’s defence held and eventually they cleared their lines, only to be penalised for a high tackle once they had broken out. Glossop continued to press and a speculative kick ahead deep into Moor's 22 was fielded by right-winger Sam Firth, who counter-attacked and then threw a long pass out to Maclagan, for the latter to then sprint 70 metres up his wing and when stopped, passed back inside to Firth, who finished the move off by scoring in the corner. With still a quarter of the match to be played, the visitors had now retaken the lead, but Glossop were not yet finished, as ten minutes later, from a ruck just inside Moor’s 10-metre line, their scrum-half picked up, dummied and then went through the smallest of gaps, to race away and score an unconverted try in the corner. Advantage to Glossop, but this proved to be the last time that they troubled the scoreboard, as on their next drive, Firth somehow managed to poach the ball from a maul that they had set up, broke out and again fed Maclagan, who sped up the field and this time when halted, replacement back row Dan Tanner was on hand to take the final pass and score, converted by Atherton. The final ten minutes of the game were played almost entirely in the Glossop half of the field and their task was made even harder as they had a player sin-binned with only a couple of minutes left. Moor took full advantage of this, as in injury time they disrupted a scrum, resulting in Glossop being penalised, handing Atherton a straight-forward penalty goal kick, which brought the game to a close and a welcome 32-23 victory for Moor.
Moor now take a break for the Xmas holidays, with their next game on 4th January against Wilmslow at Green Lane, k.o. 2:15 p.m.
Glossop kicked off and play was mainly confined to their visitor’s half of the field for the opening minutes, where they stayed until they had opened their account. This came from a lineout that Moor lost, and to compound the error, they then knocked-on in attempting to halt the subsequent attack by the home side, gifting the latter a scrum some ten metres out. From here, Glossop picked up, went down the blindside and forced their way over to score in the corner, followed by an excellent conversion. Moor immediately replied however, as from a lineout following the restart, the ball was swiftly passed along their three-quarter line to left-winger Myles Maclagan, who brushed off the defence to squeeze in at the corner; the conversion being missed. Play was then confined mainly between the 22-metre lines of both sides, with the hosts edging the possession stakes, although neither side looked as if they would trouble the scoreboard. Moor did come closest to adding to their total on a couple of occasions, but in both cases, unforced errors put paid to these attempts. Midway through the first period, Moor were again on the attack in the opposition’s 22 and had set up a rolling maul following a lineout, only for the ball to be stripped from their possession, enabling Glossop to break out and put in a speculative chip ahead, causing the Moor cover to turn and chase back. On recovering the ball just inside their own 22, they were then penalised for not releasing in a subsequent tackle and the penalty was kicked to touch by the hosts. On winning the lineout, Glossop recycled the ball along their back line, followed by a series of rucks, ending with an unconverted try. Play again returned to midfield with the sides cancelling each other out and just as it looked as if no further score would result, Moor set up one final attack as they took play towards their opponent’s line, but when only five metres short, they were again penalised for not releasing in a tackle. The hosts then cleared their lines, to set up their own attack and forced the visitors into conceding two penalties in quick succession, the second of which enabled them to kick a penalty goal, bringing the first half to a close and a deserved 15-5 lead for Glossop.
In the second half, Moor’s fortunes improved, due in part to a rearrangement of the line-up and as a result, it proved to be a more open game, with the lead changing hands no less than five times. Straight away from the start, Glossop were penalised at a lineout and a quickly taken tap-penalty by Moor was passed out to Maclagan, who set off up his wing and out-paced the cover to score an unconverted try. They scored again directly following the restart, when inter-passing between forwards and backs, took Moor up to the opposition’s line and following a series of rucks, centre Adam Heal crossed to touch down, converted by replacement fly-half Jacob Atherton. With less than five minutes of the half completed, Moor now found themselves in the lead for the first time in the match, but ten minutes later were again behind after the home side kicked a penalty goal. This followed a sustained period of pressure by Glossop, but Moor’s defence held and eventually they cleared their lines, only to be penalised for a high tackle once they had broken out. Glossop continued to press and a speculative kick ahead deep into Moor's 22 was fielded by right-winger Sam Firth, who counter-attacked and then threw a long pass out to Maclagan, for the latter to then sprint 70 metres up his wing and when stopped, passed back inside to Firth, who finished the move off by scoring in the corner. With still a quarter of the match to be played, the visitors had now retaken the lead, but Glossop were not yet finished, as ten minutes later, from a ruck just inside Moor’s 10-metre line, their scrum-half picked up, dummied and then went through the smallest of gaps, to race away and score an unconverted try in the corner. Advantage to Glossop, but this proved to be the last time that they troubled the scoreboard, as on their next drive, Firth somehow managed to poach the ball from a maul that they had set up, broke out and again fed Maclagan, who sped up the field and this time when halted, replacement back row Dan Tanner was on hand to take the final pass and score, converted by Atherton. The final ten minutes of the game were played almost entirely in the Glossop half of the field and their task was made even harder as they had a player sin-binned with only a couple of minutes left. Moor took full advantage of this, as in injury time they disrupted a scrum, resulting in Glossop being penalised, handing Atherton a straight-forward penalty goal kick, which brought the game to a close and a welcome 32-23 victory for Moor.
Moor now take a break for the Xmas holidays, with their next game on 4th January against Wilmslow at Green Lane, k.o. 2:15 p.m.
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