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Match report
david ferridge8 Jan 2017 - 13:07
TC v Bury
Thornton-Cleveleys began their 2017 year with a home game against Bury and even though Bury were bottom of the League we knew from previous encounters, that these stats did not truly reflect on how well Bury could play. With Coach Mark Hanson choosing to marry mid season? TC was going to need the leadership of Ross Mellor Clark and Robert Meekins to get points from the game. The team selected were Aaron Farnworth, Ben Calvert and Chris Constantine making a solid front row .Andrew Williams and Callum Holland props, Flanking was Captain Robert Meekins and Pete Ashton whilst at number 8 saw the return of the beast Thomas Cockcroft. At 9/10 were Tommy hibbert and Kurt Gledhill with Ellis Wolstencroft and James Cunliffe at centres. On the wings were William Gardner and Mathew Rowley , Full back was Grant Blackshaw. On the bench TC had Ross Mellor Clark and Andy Obrien with a welcome return to Jonathan Cooper making the third replacement.TC were facing the windmill on a damp and chilly day and from the first attack from Bury TC showed the what they were to expect as Matt Rowley thundered in a tackle to completely remove the Bury Winger from the field of play ,Bury looked to have settled almost immediately and for the first 15 minutes nearly all the play was Bury attacking, camped in TC’s 22,as they repeatedly tried to break The solid defence of TC .There were some great defensive plays from Robert Meekins and Callum Holland , this looked like it was going to be a long shift ,but with 22 mins gone TC had the chance to go ahead with a penalty, unfortunately Kurt’s boots seemed to be on the wrong feet as the kick went wide. With 30 minutes gone Bury had sustained a lot of effort and energy in attacking TC, and were nearly rewarded for it as their centre crossed the line only to fumble the ball trying to place it down, this was a big let off for TC. Jonathan Cooper replaced Connie in a planned interchange that did not weaken the front row for TC. On the 33rd minute Matt Rowley used his pace and ‘Spaghetti legs’ to dance past Bury’s defence to score a well worked try, Kurt failed to convert making the score 5-0. This seemed to turn the game around as TC now settled into the rhythm of the game and placed Bury under attack. Tommy Hibbert’s quick thinking at the breakdown, reversing the flow of attack, passed to Callum and then to Will Gardner who sped past the try line to score TC’s second unconverted try. Half time came at 10-0.
On the 45th minute TC scored their 3rd try with what has become his trade mark sprint Neil Wright....yes not a typo Aaron Farnworth picked up at a breakdown and ran 20 yards direct to the posts and looked almost certain to score, but was bought down 5 yards short, managing to pass off the floor to Ellis who ran in the 3rd try,Kurts kicking game was still on Xmas break as he failed to convert. Neil was replaced by Connie and TC was now in the ascendancy as they began to apply more pressure on Bury. Matt Rowley began an attack with pace and stepping opponents ,passed to captain Robert Meekins who ran a great line passing to James Cunliffe to score TC’s 4th unconverted try. The next ten minutes saw Andy Obrien and Ross join the field for Will and Grant, with the last 20 minutes a reverse of the first 20 as TC attacked Bury. On the 70th minute the ball became loose and with sublime skill and rugby awareness Rob Meekins picked up the loose ball at pace and passed out of the back door to ben calvert who scored TC’s 5th try, in what I would vote for as the best assist this year by far. Ben Calvert scored TC’s final try following from strong running and breaking through tackles from Tom Cockcroft, Kurt converted the try and the final whistle came at 32-0 to TC. This was a good game to watch as it showed TC’s strength in defence and their control whilst under pressure improving. Bury certainly did not play like a team who are bottom of the league and deserved credit for their discipline and their relentless efforts to gain points from the windmill ground. Man of the match had many contenders, Ben Calvert for his tries and solid hooking duties,Callum Holland in defence and Matt Rowley for his breaking through and nut-megging a very surprised Bury centre, also Tom Cockcroft looked every bit as impressive as before he left to fulfil work commitments, but Man of the match had to go to the captain who led from the front ,was involved in a lot of the decisive plays and for that assist that when asked I shall say “yes I was there and saw it “ Robert Meekins.TC now look forward to a difficult game next week at home to Burnley.
On the 45th minute TC scored their 3rd try with what has become his trade mark sprint Neil Wright....yes not a typo Aaron Farnworth picked up at a breakdown and ran 20 yards direct to the posts and looked almost certain to score, but was bought down 5 yards short, managing to pass off the floor to Ellis who ran in the 3rd try,Kurts kicking game was still on Xmas break as he failed to convert. Neil was replaced by Connie and TC was now in the ascendancy as they began to apply more pressure on Bury. Matt Rowley began an attack with pace and stepping opponents ,passed to captain Robert Meekins who ran a great line passing to James Cunliffe to score TC’s 4th unconverted try. The next ten minutes saw Andy Obrien and Ross join the field for Will and Grant, with the last 20 minutes a reverse of the first 20 as TC attacked Bury. On the 70th minute the ball became loose and with sublime skill and rugby awareness Rob Meekins picked up the loose ball at pace and passed out of the back door to ben calvert who scored TC’s 5th try, in what I would vote for as the best assist this year by far. Ben Calvert scored TC’s final try following from strong running and breaking through tackles from Tom Cockcroft, Kurt converted the try and the final whistle came at 32-0 to TC. This was a good game to watch as it showed TC’s strength in defence and their control whilst under pressure improving. Bury certainly did not play like a team who are bottom of the league and deserved credit for their discipline and their relentless efforts to gain points from the windmill ground. Man of the match had many contenders, Ben Calvert for his tries and solid hooking duties,Callum Holland in defence and Matt Rowley for his breaking through and nut-megging a very surprised Bury centre, also Tom Cockcroft looked every bit as impressive as before he left to fulfil work commitments, but Man of the match had to go to the captain who led from the front ,was involved in a lot of the decisive plays and for that assist that when asked I shall say “yes I was there and saw it “ Robert Meekins.TC now look forward to a difficult game next week at home to Burnley.
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