Moor hosted Sefton at Green Lane last Saturday in their first league game of the New Year and it was also their first reverse fixture of the season. Having not played for four weeks because of the Xmas break and cancellations due to Covid, players and supporters were eager to get the game on, but with prolonged rain for the previous 48 hours, the prospect of having a pitch that was fit for play did not look very promising, but sterling work by a band of volunteers on the playing surface, who worked up until only an hour before the kick-off, ensured that the game went ahead, one of only a handful in the area.
The first meeting between the sides back in September was very much one-sided in favour of Sefton when their full-back Nathan Lewis scored two tries and assisted in two more, but with Moor fielding a much-improved side on this occasion, it was hoped that there would be no such repeat. No such luck. Same result – same individual!

The visitors kicked off and Moor failed to adequately secure the ball, resulting a couple of minutes later in them being penalised. Fortunately, the attempted kick was wide of the uprights, but Moor had to sustain another ten minutes of pressure in their own half, before breaking out and were eventually rewarded with a kickable penalty. They chose to take a scrum however, which produced another penalty even nearer to the opposition line and, unsurprisingly, chose another scrum. This time, No.8 Josh Tate picked up from the base, fed fly-half Martin Shelley, who in turn passed to full-back Mitch van Zyl, for the latter to cross for the opening score; the conversion by Shelley going just wide. This incursion into Sefton territory proved to be the last for some time as the opposition, led by their back row, kept play in the Moor half of the field, setting up repeated drives. Eventually on the half-hour mark, following numerous rucks, the ball was fed out along their back line which Lewis joined at pace to squeeze in at the corner for a converted try. Just before the interval, he was at it again as from a break-down, he put in a well-judged kick ahead, outstripped the covering defence to collect and go over for his second try, again converted. Deep into injury time at the interval, Moor did rally and in an almost identical situation to that when they opened their account, were awarded a penalty within range, but this time chose to kick, which Shelley slotted, making the half-time score 14-8 to the visitors.

Within a few minutes of the restart, Sefton had stretched their lead, this time courtesy of their forwards, when they took a tapped penalty and followed it up with a series of 'pick and goes' which were not successfully defended and they squeezed over for an unconverted try. Midway through the half, Moor had their best period of play and, keeping the ball amongst their forwards, produced a series of drives which threatened the opposition's line and resulted in a defender being sin-binned for a high tackle. The home side took full advantage of this and were camped for sometime just short of the line.

Eventually this pressure paid off when Moor disrupted a Sefton scrum, allowing prop Dan Goodwin to pick up the loose ball and dive over for an unconverted try. Despite being a man down, Sefton did stretch their lead with a penalty kick and once restored to a full compliment, they regained the upper hand and set up a number of attacks courtesy of their speedy back line, eventually resulting in their fourth try in the corner. Just as it seemed that the game would fritter out, up popped Lewis again to produce another piece of individual brilliance when he delicately chipped ahead, collected the bounce and streaked away to score his hat-trick under the posts, giving an easy conversion and bringing the game to an end with a comfortable 34-13 victory for the visitors and leaving Moor with a huge sense of déjà vu.

Moor continue their league programme next Saturday with a trip to the Wirral to play New Brighton, k.o. 2:15 p.m.

David Todd