by Neil Allen
A week of mounting injuries and unavailability saw coach Adam Fletcher’s hair visibly greying and Lymm’s resources stretched to the limit for the visit of Hull.
The situation was exacerbated with Joe Watson dropping out on the morning of the match. All this meant the return of crowd favourite Tim Oakes to help out his old team. Everything pointed to a long afternoon for Lymm as they bravely went down 8-38.
Hull started brightly running the ball at Lymm at every opportunity but the Lymm defence stood firm. Hull didn’t let up and on 15 minutes with the penalty count rising Ali Sutherland received a yellow card. Hull immediately capitalised on their greater numbers to put the winger over in the corner. The signs looked ominous but Lymm stood firm and started to grow into the game. The defence remained solid and with ball in hand Lymm sought to take it to the opposition. Cormac Nolan was looking particularly bright and inventive at full back.
Knock-ons and the referee’s whistle hampered Lymm’s progress. Indeed the referee seemed to have a one-eyed view of the breakdown and the forward pass laws all day, which didn’t help Lymm’s cause.
The rest of the first half was fairly even with each side recording a penalty. 10-3 at half time belied Lymm’s off field problems. They had competed well and there was optimism in the air that the young-side could get something out of the game.
Hull however had other ideas and came out for the second half with far more pace and precision about their game. Lymm were now just managing to hold on. There was an inevitable feeling that the dam could burst at any minute, as slowly but surely the size and power of Hull began to take its toll. Sure enough two close quarter tries followed in fairly quick succession to make the score 24-3. Despite this Lymm maintained their spirit but the task was now becoming too much for the patched up team and Hull soon claimed their bonus point try with a sweeping move, the best score of the game.
The scoreline was now beginning to look cruel to a young Lymm team who had battled admirably all day and with 5 minutes remaining Lymm claimed a try, which their efforts certainly deserved. Some excellent interplay between backs and forwards saw Will Titherington go over. One of the bright spots of the player crisis has been the form of the Titherington brothers, young Colts who have been thrust into the first team limelight and are now growing into the role.
Fittingly however the last word of the day went to Hull who crossed for a fifth try to make the final score 38-8. On the day Hull had far too much for Lymm and fully deserved the win but Lymm stuck to the task and can be proud of their efforts.
To further add to Lymm’s woes Tom Bray returned to the clubhouse later from A&E, following his first half substitution, with what looks like a season ending cast on an injured hand. Coach Fletcher was philosophical about the current plight after the game and even mumbled something about getting his own boots out of the cupboard!
Lymm remain 8th in the League and next up for Lymm is a trip to Waterloo, where they will be keen to pick up some points to ensure there are no end of season nerves.
Squad: 1) Dan Horton, 2) Adam Bray (C), 3) Mike Auden, 4) James Yates, 5) Zak Lythgoe, 6) Matty Connelly, 7) Ally Sutherland, 8) Jake Ashall, 9) Tom Shard, 10) Will Titherington, 11) Joe Denman, 12) Tom Bray, 13) Lucas Titherington, 14) Richard McEvoy,
15) Cormac Nolan. Replacements: 16) Rhys Jones, 17) Kieron Williams, 18) Tim Oakes.
