Tigers Win

On the opening day of the campaign, your Ossett Tigers had the uneviable task of playing Upton on their return to the top tier of the Pennine league. With the visitors to Tiger Park playing 3 games and having a 66% return on their opening games, Upton come to town in a bullish mood to win this game convincingly. However things didn't go to plan as the Tigers going in with key players missing could only field 16 with 4 getting signed on, on the Friday and Saturday morning still had a bounce in their step.

The game kicked off with the weather being slightly wet the conditions did seem to hamper the Tigers with them passing the ball around and having joy, apart from the odd ball which went to ground. But after 5 minutes the ever reliable Adam Newby come up with a master stroke, Nick Mitchell drew in 2 defenders and unleashed a pass to Newby who raced 60m to score under the posts. Conversion should of been a simple one but Jake Simmonds slipped in the mud and kick was missed 4-0.

Then Upton had their 20min spell of dominance with them scoring 3 crash over tries with all 3 converted 18-4 with 24 on the clock and things looking bleak. However the Tigers finally started to get into their strides in defence by stopping the off load which was ripping them up suddenly Upton had no outlet and started to try passing the ball about which certainly wasn't their strong suit in the wet.

On 28 minutes James Winstanley gave a lovely pass to Ossett new signing Scott Lee from Hemel Stags went on a 1 man jinking run and after 25 side steps, 3 spins and 5 hand offs all in 12m he found a gap and danced his way over, once again the kick was missed 8-18 but the confidence in the Tigers was there to be seen. In the pack Marcus Stocks and Danny Pickles backed up nicely by Anthony Slater was making some big yards.

With 38 mins gone after the ball was kicked down field and the young winger for Upton under massive pressure from Jordan Clayton who returned to the club, with Nick Mitchell and left side putting on pressure with a excellent kick chase he knocked on. From the scrum the Tigers got into good position and Wayne Hartley who come back after 8 months out with injury got the ball and sent out a lovely face pass to Liam Green who went through the gap without a hand being laid on him score. This time Liam Ward took over the kicking and calmly slotted over to bring the Tigers closer to the Castleford outfit.

H/T Tigers 14 Upton 18

The 2nd half saw Upton start strongly enough with them having some good pressure on the Tigers line, but Ossett gained confidence on the fact they couldn't score and took it back to Upton. The game then seemed to be played for long periods in the Upton half with big yards been made by Callum Machin and the rest of the pack Upton was struggling to cope.

On 58 mins a lovely strong try from Marcus Stocks raised the crowd in a big way with the rest of the Tigers setting up the next play Marcus took the ball up and after looking like he was tackled he threw 3 defenders off him and handed off another and scored next to the posts with Upton arguing amongst themselves looking for the blame, Liam Ward slotted over 20-18.

Tigers huffed and puffed and was pulled back for forward passes and for being short but always looked like the was going to score next, on 68mins it came. James Sorby found himself at hooker on the last tackle and with a double pump dummy pass to Liam Ward, Ward put in a perfect cross field kick with make shift winger James Winstanley who had a excellent 25 min spell at hooker out jumped everyone they all missed and somehow got a 1 handed grounding which the referee gave much to the dismay of the travelling support from Upton. Ward missed from the touching but 24-18 with 12 to go.

On 72 mins Upton once again found themselves on the back foot and some ill-discipline from them saw them concede a penalty so Coach Hagger sent message on for 2 points which Liam Ward duly obliged to give the Tigers a 8 point cushion.
26-18 with 7 remaining.

Upton still had time to squeeze over for a try which to everyone on the Ossett team disputed with the Upton lad being short but the referee was not listening to the calls and awarded it 26-24 with 90secs remaining.

Ossett put the kick high and long, and managed to hold out for a famous victory against a accomplished Upton side.

F/T Tigers 26 Upton 24

Coach Hagger said "Wow what a win against an established Upton side who like us had lots of youngsters in team but fronted up well, us on the other hand I was phoning players up this morning to play and credit to them the answered that call and got their rewards. I cant fault anyone today but today is game 1 of 9 in the league before the split so long way to. However we can and will improve because that's what these boys are all about, they don't want to just settle they are eager to learn and keep on winning."

Man Of The Matches
1st Wayne Hartley
2nd Callum Machin
3rd Marcus Stocks

As Always Up The Tigers