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Heaton Moor 15 – Broughton Park 20
David Todd13 Nov - 17:48
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Costly errors
Moor hosted Broughton Park at Green Lane last Saturday and with the sides being in adjoining positions in mid-table with similar playing records, everything was set for a close contest, especially as they were both fielding much-changed line-ups from the previous week. And so it proved, with self-inflicted errors proving to be crucial for Moor.
Prior to the kick-off by Park and with Remembrance Sunday taking place the following day, a minute's silence was held in memory of those in the Armed Forces who were lost in action throughout the years. The early exchanges favoured Moor and not long after the start, their pressure was rewarded with a penalty in front of the opposition’s posts, from which they took the lead with a kick by centre Danny Fitzsimmons. Following directly after this, Park had their own penalty on the Moor 22, but the kick was missed and the hosts immediately returned up-field, where they were awarded two penalties in quick succession, both of which were kicked to touch giving them attacking lineouts and from the second of these, they set up a drive only for it to be held up over the line. Moor continued to edge both position and possession in the game and at the start of the second quarter, set up an attack from where the ball was distributed along their three-quarter line to left-winger Myles Maclagan, who then outpaced the defence to score an unconverted try in the corner. Park immediately responded in an identical way, as following the restart, Moor attempted a clearance kick from just outside their own 22, only to see it go directly into touch, providing the visitors with a favourable lineout. Winning this, they then recycled the ball along their back line, which ended with an unconverted try in the corner and the scores were then levelled five minutes later when Park kicked a penalty goal after Moor were penalised for holding on after a tackle. The final ten minutes of the half found Moor almost permanently ensconced in their opponent’s territory and the latter’s efforts were compounded when they had a player sin-binned for a high tackle. On winning the lineout from the resultant penalty kick to touch, the home side set up a drive which was looking promising, only for them to be penalised for back-chat to the referee, immediately followed by another for the same offence, thus losing whatever impetus they had. With a player–advantage and hence much of the possession, Moor continued to press, but were unable to retake the lead before the interval, which arrived all-square at 8-8.
As an indication of two equally-matched sides, the second half was now to favour Park as it was their turn to edge the possession stakes and with nearly ten minutes gone, it was the hosts who had to cope with having a player yellow-carded. This came when Moor were penalised whilst pressing and one of their players was adjudged to have obstructed an opponent from quickly taking the resultant penalty. Although their numbers were now reduced, the penalty was reversed due to back-chat by a Park player, handing Moor an attacking lineout on the visitors' 22. This was lost however, handing the momentum back to Park and they made full use of their man-advantage, as a couple of minutes later, they took the lead with an unconverted try from a scrum on Moor’s 10-metre line, followed by repeated drives towards the line. Shortly afterwards, a mistake by Moor, which was to prove decisive, gifted Park a converted try. This resulted from a speculative kick ahead by Park and just as it was to be fielded by a Moor player, the latter took his eye off the ball and knocked on, allowing an opposition player following up to kick the ball downfield, sprint past the cover, collect and touchdown. Now requiring at least two scores to get themselves back in the game and returned to a full side, Moor were still having to defend mainly in their own half and although they were coping with the opposition, they were not creating many of their own attacks. This all changed with just under ten minutes to go, when on winning a scrum on their 22, fly-half Mike Ingham chipped the ball over the advancing Park players, allowing right-winger Sam Firth to burst through, collect the ball, weave his way through defenders and run in from his own 10-metre line to score between the uprights, giving Ingham an easy conversion. This seemed to fire up Moor as they then spent the last five minutes camped deep within the visitors’ territory, and forcing Park into giving away a few penalties. Each of these were kicked to touch, but despite winning them, resolute defence by Park, kept Moor at bay. With what turned out to be the last play of the game, Moor again won another lineout five metres out to set up a drive and just as it seemed as if they would score, they managed to lose control of the ball, bringing the contest to a close and a 20-15 victory for Park. This was a game between two well-matched sides with first one and then the other being in the ascendancy, leaving Moor with the thoughts of what might have been had they managed to keep their error-count down.
Next Saturday, Moor are away at Aldwinians, k.o. 2:15 p.m.
Prior to the kick-off by Park and with Remembrance Sunday taking place the following day, a minute's silence was held in memory of those in the Armed Forces who were lost in action throughout the years. The early exchanges favoured Moor and not long after the start, their pressure was rewarded with a penalty in front of the opposition’s posts, from which they took the lead with a kick by centre Danny Fitzsimmons. Following directly after this, Park had their own penalty on the Moor 22, but the kick was missed and the hosts immediately returned up-field, where they were awarded two penalties in quick succession, both of which were kicked to touch giving them attacking lineouts and from the second of these, they set up a drive only for it to be held up over the line. Moor continued to edge both position and possession in the game and at the start of the second quarter, set up an attack from where the ball was distributed along their three-quarter line to left-winger Myles Maclagan, who then outpaced the defence to score an unconverted try in the corner. Park immediately responded in an identical way, as following the restart, Moor attempted a clearance kick from just outside their own 22, only to see it go directly into touch, providing the visitors with a favourable lineout. Winning this, they then recycled the ball along their back line, which ended with an unconverted try in the corner and the scores were then levelled five minutes later when Park kicked a penalty goal after Moor were penalised for holding on after a tackle. The final ten minutes of the half found Moor almost permanently ensconced in their opponent’s territory and the latter’s efforts were compounded when they had a player sin-binned for a high tackle. On winning the lineout from the resultant penalty kick to touch, the home side set up a drive which was looking promising, only for them to be penalised for back-chat to the referee, immediately followed by another for the same offence, thus losing whatever impetus they had. With a player–advantage and hence much of the possession, Moor continued to press, but were unable to retake the lead before the interval, which arrived all-square at 8-8.
As an indication of two equally-matched sides, the second half was now to favour Park as it was their turn to edge the possession stakes and with nearly ten minutes gone, it was the hosts who had to cope with having a player yellow-carded. This came when Moor were penalised whilst pressing and one of their players was adjudged to have obstructed an opponent from quickly taking the resultant penalty. Although their numbers were now reduced, the penalty was reversed due to back-chat by a Park player, handing Moor an attacking lineout on the visitors' 22. This was lost however, handing the momentum back to Park and they made full use of their man-advantage, as a couple of minutes later, they took the lead with an unconverted try from a scrum on Moor’s 10-metre line, followed by repeated drives towards the line. Shortly afterwards, a mistake by Moor, which was to prove decisive, gifted Park a converted try. This resulted from a speculative kick ahead by Park and just as it was to be fielded by a Moor player, the latter took his eye off the ball and knocked on, allowing an opposition player following up to kick the ball downfield, sprint past the cover, collect and touchdown. Now requiring at least two scores to get themselves back in the game and returned to a full side, Moor were still having to defend mainly in their own half and although they were coping with the opposition, they were not creating many of their own attacks. This all changed with just under ten minutes to go, when on winning a scrum on their 22, fly-half Mike Ingham chipped the ball over the advancing Park players, allowing right-winger Sam Firth to burst through, collect the ball, weave his way through defenders and run in from his own 10-metre line to score between the uprights, giving Ingham an easy conversion. This seemed to fire up Moor as they then spent the last five minutes camped deep within the visitors’ territory, and forcing Park into giving away a few penalties. Each of these were kicked to touch, but despite winning them, resolute defence by Park, kept Moor at bay. With what turned out to be the last play of the game, Moor again won another lineout five metres out to set up a drive and just as it seemed as if they would score, they managed to lose control of the ball, bringing the contest to a close and a 20-15 victory for Park. This was a game between two well-matched sides with first one and then the other being in the ascendancy, leaving Moor with the thoughts of what might have been had they managed to keep their error-count down.
Next Saturday, Moor are away at Aldwinians, k.o. 2:15 p.m.
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