Burn slump to defeat

Burn were on the wrong end of a 38-17 score line away at Stockport.

The hosts were always ahead, as Burn failed to compete for large parts of the game, which made it easy for Stockport to keep the score board ticking over and to secure a full 5 points for their days work.

All the early pressure was in the Burn 22, Burns defence managed to keep Stockport from scoring a try, but on 5 minutes the home side were awarded a penalty in front of the posts. There was then a delay due to a Stockport player sustaining a neck injury, as an ambulance was required the game shifted to another pitch. On the resumption the 3 points were kicked. Within a few minutes Stockport had their first try, poor Burn tackling allowed the Stockport centre to make something from nothing from within his own half, as he brushed aside Burns attempts to bring him down, he made it to the 22 before passing to a team mate who ran in to score by the posts. The conversion followed and Stockport led 10-0. After this Burn had their only sustained bright period of the first half, they managed to retain the ball and started moving their opponents side to side, eventually on 15 minutes creating an overlap for Leon Fifield to score out wide. Fifield was then unable to add the conversion. Poor tackling on 24 minutes again allowed Stockport to break from their own half and score another try from nothing, this time the conversion was missed. On the half hour Stockport had another 7 points, this time the forwards just grinded away and kept pushing for the Burn try line and after a while they managed to crash over to score. In the closing minutes of the half Burn had a penalty in front of the posts, they took a quick tap and passed wide, the ball was knocked on in the tackle and the chance was gone. Instead of Burn having points before the break it was Stockport, a clearance kick was sloppily knocked on as it bounced, this gave Stockport a scrum on the Burn 22, the referee awarded a penalty and Stockport kicked it to make the half time score 25-5.

The second half didn’t start much better for Burn as Stockport scored their fourth try after just 5 minutes, the extra points were added and now Stockport has a 27 point lead. Burn continued to fail to mount any pressure on Stockport until the 62nd minute. Burns replacements were all on by this stage and they all helped to spark Burn. On this occasion it was a barnstorming run by Corey Logan that took Burn to 5 metres out, he was held up, but managed to pass to the supporting Wilf Whittle who went over to score. Fifield added the conversion. Burn’s tails were up, but Stockport remained calm and took sensible decisions to kick penalty’s when given the chance, this included a long range effort on 70 minutes. Almost straight away Burn hit back with their third try, from a scrum on the 22 Burn went open and spread the ball along the backs, Jack Swarbrick was held, but he managed to offload to keep play moving and the ball found its way to the wing where Leon Fifield managed to scoot over for his second try of the game. The conversion was missed. Stockport responded with another long distance penalty. Burn pushed for a try bonus point and looked to have it with the last play of the game, but with the try line beckoning the last pass didn’t go to hand and the ball was knocked on over the line, which basically summed up Burn’s day and the final score remained at 38-17.

There is no way of saying it nicely, Burn were poor in this game. This included poor tackling, decision making and kicking, in addition to these they too often gave up possession too easily and they tried to do too much, again resulting in turnovers. They came close to a try bonus point at the end, if they had scored then it would have been questionable if they deserved it anyway, as bar 5 minutes in the first half and the last 20 they hardly competed with their opponents, games can’t be won when you only play for 25 minutes. Best wishes are sent to the Stockport player who went off due to the neck injury. Next week it is not getting any easier for Burn as table topping, Carlisle travel down to Ramsgreave Drive.