Committed Lymm earn bonus point win

WITH one foot too deeply immersed in the mire of relegation Lymm need every point they can get and were delighted to earn a bonus point with a 33-11 win over Longton.
The home side started very brightly but it was Longton who opened the scoring with a penalty. Lymm responded quickly with a catch and drive from a line out being finished by Jordan Widdrington to give Lymm a 5 – 3 lead.
Lymm then put together possibly their most consistent period of quality rugby of the season. With everyone committing fully in defence the visitors were unable to make use of their superior size and speedy back line. A number of potential attacks failed as Lymm’s hustling defense forced knock ons. In attack Lymm were retaining ball, running sound support lines and making ground repeatedly. A nicely worked move down the Longton right wing saw Lymm cross the line but the try had benefitted from a forward pass and was disallowed. Not to be thwarted Lymm attacked again and a patient offence saw Andy Rowley take an Adam Bray off load from just yards out to run in an easy score. Cormac Nolan converted and Lymm lead 12 – 3.
The scoring was far from done for the first half though. A clearing kick by Baker was retrieved excellently by the lively Dave Williamson; his break fed Sam Mullarkey (On one of his numerous support runs) who then put Dugdale in for another try under the posts. Nolan converted again, making it 19 -3.
Longton continued to try and put their attack together but had to settle for a well taken penalty from the half way line.
Lymm secured the try bonus point with time still left in the first half. With the team benefitting from Joe Knowles’ short passing game Adam Bray made a strong break, and the ball was moved crisply via Knowles to Dugdale whose smart side step saw another 5 points under the posts. An easy conversion from Nolan saw Lymm lead 26 – 6 at the half.
The second half started with an astute kick from Rowley taking Lymm to Longton’s 5 metre line. The Staffs side secured their line out and cleared the threat. However the very strong wind was hampering the visitors’ attempts to get out of their own half, with a number of kicks being blown back by the wind.
Lymm were unable to capitalise on their numerous chances until Sion Williams took a high ball in a similar manner to Williamson in the first half. His powerful drive and dish to James Yates saw the latter race past Longton’s defense and bundle over for a fine score. Nolan converted again 33 v 6. Nolan had earlier produced an exciting piece of rugby when he flicked a catch to the wing back into play before collecting it and breaking the attempted tackle to set up Bray and Mullarkey. A knock on scuppered the attack.
An injury to prop Widdrington followed by a yellow card for his front row colleague Ashton saw the visitors able to assert themselves a little more and with a period of play at last in the Lymm half they finished the days scoring with a well taken try in the wing from a scrum.
Lymm took a well deserved five points but were unable to move up in the table as the teams around them all produced crucial wins of their own. Two matches against relegation rivals loom, alongside two contests against top four. This level of commitment in defence and control in attack must be replicated to lift Lymm out of the drop zone.

Team: Widdrington, A. Bray, Ashton, Yates, S.Williams, Mullarkey, Oakes, Mullarkey, Higginson, Baker, Knowles, T. Bray, Dugdale, Williamson, Nolan, Rowley. Subs. K. Williams, McEvoy, Darbyshire