Back
Heaton Moor 29 – New Brighton 37
David Todd26 Mar - 22:58
Another almost, but not quite.
In their last home league game of the season, Moor were hosts to New Brighton last Saturday, in a match that both sides needed to win to ease their relegation worries. In a closely fought game, the lead changed hands on a number of occasions during the second half, with the game ending in disappointment for the Green Lane side. Prior to kick-off, a minute’s silence was held in remembrance of two Moor stalwarts who had passed away recently; ex-Club Captain and Coach, Colin Beer and ex-Chairman and President, Tony Murton Snr.
The visitors kicked off and for some minutes, play was confined to the Moor half of the field, as they were unable to clear their lines and had to withstand early pressure. Eventually, they broke out and for the next twenty minutes the action was mainly in New Brighton’s territory, resulting in them conceding a number of penalties. From one of these, Moor kicked to touch just five metres out and on winning the subsequent lineout, set up a drive, ending in tight-head prop, Dan Goodwin, burrowing his way over to open the scoring with a try, converted by fly-half Jacob Atherton. Ten minutes later it was all square, when Moor lost their own lineout on the halfway line, allowing the strong-running New Brighton inside centre to break through a couple of tackles and take the ball up to the line, before offloading to his fellow centre to score a converted try. The last ten minutes of the half again found Moor having the edge in the game and with time almost up, New Brighton put in a speculative chip over the advancing Moor defence, only for it to be collected by right-winger Sam Firth inside his own 22, from where he counter-attacked, jinking his way over to the left-hand side of the pitch before straightening up and running in to score out wide; the conversion being missed. From the restart, Moor were penalised some thirty metres out in a central position, from where the visitors kicked a penalty goal, leaving Moor with a narrow, but deserved, 12-10 lead at half-time.
The second half resulted in far more points than the first, as both sides attempted to snatch the advantage and play became slightly less structured and more error-strewn, giving rise to more penalties. New Brighton took the lead for the first time when Moor were penalised twice in succession just after the restart, the final one being on their own 22, providing the former with an easy penalty goal. Not long afterwards, the home side retook the lead with a long-range penalty goal by Atherton and then both sides had a player sin-binned within a couple of minutes of each other; the first was a New Brighton player for killing the ball and the second was for a deliberate knock-on by Moor. Despite both sides having an extra man for a few minutes, neither side could take advantage of this to add to their respective scorelines and perversely, it was Moor who went further ahead just before they were restored to a full compliment when they were awarded a penalty try at the start of the last quarter. This came from a penalty on their opponent’s 5-metre line, which they elected to take as a scrum and on winning it, the referee adjudged that New Brighton illegally collapsed the drive as they were being pushed back towards their line. Again, Moor handed the initiative back to the opposition following a restart when they lost the ball from the kick-off, allowing New Brighton to set up an attack and, forcing their way through a couple of tackles, touched down next to the uprights, making the conversion a formality. The visitors then went ahead almost immediately with another penalty goal, when Moor were again penalised following the restart. Yet another restart, but this time it was New Brighton’s turn to add to the error count when they dropped the kick-off, allowing Firth to collect the loose ball and take play to just short of the line, from where Moor set up a number of mauls, ending with skipper Jack Pipe driving over to score a bonus-point try, converted by Atherton, taking the hosts back into the lead with just ten minutes to play. Unfortunately for Moor, this did not last long, as with five minutes to go, New Brighton had another lineout from a penalty kick just ten metres short of the Moor line, and on winning it, recycled the ball along their back line, ending with a converted try. Their tails now up, the visitors kept the pressure on a rather tired looking Moor defence and in injury time, ensured the victory with another converted try, following repeated drives from yet another lineout, bringing the game to an end with a 37-29 win and depriving Moor of a losing bonus point by the narrowest of margins. This was a disappointing result for Moor, given that they had held the advantage for extended periods in the game and yet again, were unable to close a game down once in the lead.
Moor have no game this coming weekend, but are away at Aspull on 5th April, k.o. 3:00 p.m., in the last league game of the season in what is a must win for both sides, as the loser will be relegated.
The visitors kicked off and for some minutes, play was confined to the Moor half of the field, as they were unable to clear their lines and had to withstand early pressure. Eventually, they broke out and for the next twenty minutes the action was mainly in New Brighton’s territory, resulting in them conceding a number of penalties. From one of these, Moor kicked to touch just five metres out and on winning the subsequent lineout, set up a drive, ending in tight-head prop, Dan Goodwin, burrowing his way over to open the scoring with a try, converted by fly-half Jacob Atherton. Ten minutes later it was all square, when Moor lost their own lineout on the halfway line, allowing the strong-running New Brighton inside centre to break through a couple of tackles and take the ball up to the line, before offloading to his fellow centre to score a converted try. The last ten minutes of the half again found Moor having the edge in the game and with time almost up, New Brighton put in a speculative chip over the advancing Moor defence, only for it to be collected by right-winger Sam Firth inside his own 22, from where he counter-attacked, jinking his way over to the left-hand side of the pitch before straightening up and running in to score out wide; the conversion being missed. From the restart, Moor were penalised some thirty metres out in a central position, from where the visitors kicked a penalty goal, leaving Moor with a narrow, but deserved, 12-10 lead at half-time.
The second half resulted in far more points than the first, as both sides attempted to snatch the advantage and play became slightly less structured and more error-strewn, giving rise to more penalties. New Brighton took the lead for the first time when Moor were penalised twice in succession just after the restart, the final one being on their own 22, providing the former with an easy penalty goal. Not long afterwards, the home side retook the lead with a long-range penalty goal by Atherton and then both sides had a player sin-binned within a couple of minutes of each other; the first was a New Brighton player for killing the ball and the second was for a deliberate knock-on by Moor. Despite both sides having an extra man for a few minutes, neither side could take advantage of this to add to their respective scorelines and perversely, it was Moor who went further ahead just before they were restored to a full compliment when they were awarded a penalty try at the start of the last quarter. This came from a penalty on their opponent’s 5-metre line, which they elected to take as a scrum and on winning it, the referee adjudged that New Brighton illegally collapsed the drive as they were being pushed back towards their line. Again, Moor handed the initiative back to the opposition following a restart when they lost the ball from the kick-off, allowing New Brighton to set up an attack and, forcing their way through a couple of tackles, touched down next to the uprights, making the conversion a formality. The visitors then went ahead almost immediately with another penalty goal, when Moor were again penalised following the restart. Yet another restart, but this time it was New Brighton’s turn to add to the error count when they dropped the kick-off, allowing Firth to collect the loose ball and take play to just short of the line, from where Moor set up a number of mauls, ending with skipper Jack Pipe driving over to score a bonus-point try, converted by Atherton, taking the hosts back into the lead with just ten minutes to play. Unfortunately for Moor, this did not last long, as with five minutes to go, New Brighton had another lineout from a penalty kick just ten metres short of the Moor line, and on winning it, recycled the ball along their back line, ending with a converted try. Their tails now up, the visitors kept the pressure on a rather tired looking Moor defence and in injury time, ensured the victory with another converted try, following repeated drives from yet another lineout, bringing the game to an end with a 37-29 win and depriving Moor of a losing bonus point by the narrowest of margins. This was a disappointing result for Moor, given that they had held the advantage for extended periods in the game and yet again, were unable to close a game down once in the lead.
Moor have no game this coming weekend, but are away at Aspull on 5th April, k.o. 3:00 p.m., in the last league game of the season in what is a must win for both sides, as the loser will be relegated.
Further reading