Valley have made a habit of making fast starts to games this season, but it was soon obvious that this game was going to be different. Valley looked sluggish, Macc's defence looked organised and up for the battle whilst their experienced fly half made excellent use of a the wind, frequently pinning the visitors deep in their own half so it was no surprise when the home team opened up a 12-0 lead with a quarter of the game gone.

Valley briefly threatened a fightback when full back Alex Holiday crashed over for a converted try, but, immediately after the restart, another deep kick caused chasos in the visitor's defence and Macc restored their twelve point lead, which they held until the half time break which saw the Valley players face some harsh words from their skipper.

After the interval Valley proved that they could start quickly as, within four minutes, tries from Ed Oldridge and Steve Rawson, both converted by Jake Oldridge, saw them take the lead for the first time, a lead they were never to relinquish.

Macc were clearly shellshocked by Valley's response and it was the visitors turn to make good use of the wind, pinning the hosts back, and the rewards were powerful, close range tries from Kristian Williams and Joe Scouler (19-35).

Valley were in rampant form now, running the ball at every opportunity and a tiring defence was unable to cope as Harry Oldridge and Jack Greaves finished off flowing moves before the former decided it was time to take his customary rest. The referee had ignored head contact all afternoon so it was perhaps no surprise that Harry Oldridge's attempt to decapitate an opponent was only deemed a yellow card.

The one man deficit and a series of substitutions made little difference to Valley's strong second half performance as they repelled several Macc-attacks, including a superb try saving tackle by James Stelfox before Ed Oldridge rounded off the scoring for a 19-54 win that saw them maintain their three point lead at the top of the division.

Tries: E.Oldridge (2), Holliday, H.Oldridge, J.Oldridge, Rawson, Scouler, Williams
Cons: J.Oldridge (7)

Men of the match: Jake Oldridge and Kristian Williams both put in huge efforts, especially when Valley's backs were against the wall.
Mandy of the match: He may have avoided a clear red card, but Harry Oldridge's high tackle was not avoiding the Mandy award.

Next week (30 Oct) sees the first of back-to-back games against Congleton RFC as the Cheshire club travel to Hope Sports Club for a league game (kick off 1500hrs).