WOOLSTON Rovers suffered a second successive defeat when they went down to Underbank Rangers in a closely and keenly fought National Conference League Division Three fixture at the weekend.
Rovers bounced back after an indifferent opening quarter to put plenty of pressure on the home side and if a couple of crucial decisions had gone their way then the result may have been different but there were plenty of positives to take forward over the forthcoming weeks.
Underbank opened the scoring in the second minute. A mistake by Rovers in their own twenty metre area gave Rangers a scrum and from that they took full advantage as a short ball from full back Sam Hendrick found centre Michael Lang linking in the line to race over under the posts. Scrum half Kris Harrop converted and then fourteen minutes later a short ball from Hendrick found stand off Will Midgley and he put winger Dan Pawson over wide out on the left. Harrop landed the conversion from close to the touchline.
Rovers got on the scoreboard on twenty seven minutes when some slick handling saw the ball reach scrum half Daniel O’Brien and he dummied and stepped through the gap he created and raced over to score on the left. O’Brien converted himself but then seven minutes later Harrop landed a penalty goal for Underbank after Rovers were punished for a high tackle.
Right on the stroke of half time Rovers forced a drop out and a strong drive from prop forward Scott Davidson put his side deep into the Underbank half and loose forward Chris Mellor slipped a lovely ball to centre Tom Keevil who scored in the right corner. O’Brien converted superbly to make the score 14-12 to Underbank at the break.
The second half was a real arm wrestle with chances for both sides hard to come by but a stroke of good fortune for Underbank just after the hour settled the encounter. A chip through by Harrop was kicked on by Hendrick and it cannoned off a Rovers player back into the arms of Harrop who raced over under the posts. Harrop goaled to put his side 20-12 ahead and that is the way it remained despite plenty of late pressure by the never-say-die Rovers side.
Best for Woolston were prop forward Scott Davidson, centre Tom Keevil, hooker Ben Moores and loose forward Chris Mellor.
ROVERS
Troy Brophy, Ryan Cosgrove, Mike Stout, Tom Keevil, James Rosson, Billy Maunder, Daniel O’Brien, Scott
Davidson, Ben Moores, Andy Addison, Ryan Jones, Sean Conway, Chris Mellor.
Subs: Dan Heaton, Christian Taylor, John Welch, Mark Robinson.
