Moor opened their league campaign when they hosted Trafford MV at Green Lane on Saturday and aware that in the identical fixture in the previous season, the visitors came from behind to snatch victory by five points. Given that in the previous week Moor had allowed their opponents to score 14 unanswered points, before managing to hang on to a draw in their Lancashire Trophy match away at West Park, they were no doubt hoping that lightning would not strike twice. As it turned out, it did.

Moor started brightly and had opened the scoring within a few minutes when the ball was passed quickly along the three-quarter line to left-winger Will Kay, who rounded the cover to score in the corner; the conversion being missed. Metrovick were on the score sheet soon afterwards when they kicked a penalty goal following an infringement by Moor in front of their posts, but almost immediately the home side increased their lead when No. 8 Ben Jones quickly took a penalty, linked up with fly-half Martin Shelley, who in turn put Kay away for his second try, again in the corner and again unconverted.

From the restart, Moor again attacked and a clever kick through by centre Joe Kilbride was chased by right-winger David Adebo, coming around to the left on a loop, but fortunately for the visitors, their full-back managed to reach the ball first and bundled it in to touch just short of their try-line.

Moor were unable to take advantage of the situation however, as they lost the resultant lineout, the first of many such errors throughout the afternoon. In spite of this slip-up, they continued to keep Metrovick pinned down and on a number of occasions were camped on the opposition’s line for extended periods, but excellent defence by the visitors prevented any score. Eventually, Metrovick broke out and for the last 10 minutes of the game, edged both position and possession and were finally rewarded with a converted try for their efforts, initially aided by some poor tackling from Moor, which allowed them to set up a series of rucks five metres out, ending up with their scrum-half stretching out to touch down. The interval was reached with the scores tied at 10-10, which was somewhat disappointing for the home side, as they should have been comfortably ahead following their efforts.

Nevertheless, Moor did retake the lead soon after the restart when they again had the visitors under pressure just short of their line and this time managed to breach the defence, when after a number of drives, Jones crashed over for an unconverted try. They continued to apply the pressure and a powerful run by Kilbride, from just inside the opposition’s half, broke through and when he was finally stopped, lock Sam Dolling was up in support to take a scoring pass, and this time the conversion was successfully kicked by Shelley. Despite a now healthy lead, Moor were unable to push home their advantage and towards the end, a similar situation to that of the first half ensued, as Metrovick again began to have the better of the play and finally their forwards broke through to score a converted try.

Even at this point with only a couple of minutes left, it still seemed as if Moor would survive, especially when they were awarded a penalty that was kicked to touch. However, as had happened far too often in the game, Moor lost the resultant lineout and the opposition quickly recycled the ball along their back line, ending up with a try under the crossbar, and with the conversion a formality, Metrovick took the lead for the first time in the game. In injury time, Moor did have a chance to retrieve the situation when they were awarded a penalty some 30 metres out, but decided not to attempt a kick at goal and instead kicked to touch. Unsurprisingly, the subsequent lineout was again lost and the visitors held on to win the game 24-22. Moor were left to rue the fact that they had let a comfortable lead slip away for the second successive week, but had the consolation of knowing that they had at least picked up two bonus points for the efforts.

Next week, Moor are away at Aldwinans, k.o. 3:00 p.m.

David Todd