The day did not look to be a good one, with Thornton only managing to field 15 players in this crucial away match to 4th in the league Burnley. With no recognisable front row to choose from it were Barry Tucker, Jamie Pearson and Shane Wilcocks who manned up and made our very light front row. Jamie Beecher and birthday boy Chuck Norris made a solid second row, whilst Marcus Pinnington and Pete Rae flanked.Sherif Ela secured the pack at 8.No captain this week as Dan Powell was on some Jewish holiday and Ben Eaves still sporting an injury whilst playing a kids game, so in stood Mike Davenport at 9.Growing in confidence at 10 was Olli Kelly and the usual centres of Rick Brown and Dave Snelson saw Thornton in a solid position. On the wing were Tom Bailey and Danny Lindsley, and the vet of vets Les Marshal commanded from the 15 position.
Burnley were in a far worse position, only managing a 14 man team, as one of them had to ref the game due to illness from the arranged ref.The game was held on the Prairie a ploy from Burnley as the long walk from the club tired out a moaning Rick Brown and Dave Snelson who thought it was the coaches job to carry them to the pich.The game began as expected with Burnley dominating the scrums, possibly due to the lack of weight in our front row. The game was played in Burnley’s half with good counter rucking from Baz and Marcus, it was only 5 minutes in when Jamie Beecher,whilst rucking or tying up his shoe lace, hurt his neck, but carried on regardless(possibly faking it I don’t know).Burnley defended well but on the 11th minute a great pick up from a scrum saw Davenport snake his way past 2 defenders to score a try ,that Olli converted with some great kicking skill to make the score 0-7.The game remained firmly in Burnley’s half, who made it tough for Davenport to get the ball away from rucks.Burnleys frustration boiled over when on the 25th minute one of their players was carded for kicking Sherif (something we have all wanted to do ).This lack of discipline saw Burnley down to 13,and Olli Kelly kicked the penalty to make the score 0-10.Burnley to their credit remained resolute in their defence, but had no real answer to the pressure that Thornton were putting them under, and with a long pass from Davenport on the38th minute the ball was finally passed wide to Dave Snelson who was able to score under the sticks, giving Olli an easy conversion, the score at half time 0-17.
The second half began the same as the first, messy in the breakdown but played mostly in Burnley’s half and with 50 minutes gone a penalty was awarded to Thornton which Olli slotted over to make the score 0-20. On the 55th minute Chuck Norris injured his knee he tried to run it off but couldn’t, this led for the coach to don his shorts and get on the pitch. The fear was evident in all of Burnley’s eyes as they saw this buffed man mountain, honed to perfection take his position at second row, his first touch of the ball led to a knock on (I am better in my mind than on the grass).Burnley had Thornton on the defence, and in some bizarre decision from the ref saw the game being carried on whilst 2 Thornton players were down, one with a neck injury and another player giving assistance, but that is the game ,and Burnley managed to charge through over the line to score a converted try making the score 7-20.On the 70th minute with superb skill and dexterity had the coach 3 metres from the line, a try looked imminent, hearts were in all of Thornton’s mouths.....oh shit he better not score, we will not hear the last of it, Rick Brown even considered tackling him to stop it happening, but a Burnley player managed to get there first. The game ended 7-20 every credit to Burnley who put up a good game and their hospitality second to none.Thorntons man of the match was Marcus Pinnington who ran all day, tackled well and was in the heart of everything, well done Marcus an impressive game. Hero of the day was Miss Mucus who ran the water on at every occasion and encouraged the team from the side; she did try to get in the showers but was stopped thankfully. A great game at 10 from Olli, who showed his kicking skills also. Pete Rae looked more nimble on his toes due to the half pound he has lost since Christmas, and danced his way through some defence to make good yardage. Davenport played well at nine (who is Dan Powell).This win keeps Thornton at second place and determined to build on these kind of games. Well done to all players, you may now take a week off.XXX