Cleckheaton 25 Lymm 18 Report by David Millachip
A losing Bonus Point was all that Lymm brought home following a disappointing performance in West Yorkshire.
It was a sparse group of spectators who witnessed the early kick off (brought forward to avoid a clash with the England – Wales international) at Cleckheaton’s Moorend ground for this re-arranged Division 3 North game as the result of a mid-January frozen pitch. Lymm, in 3rd place, were up against a struggling Cleckheaton side mired in the relegation zone so much was expected from the visitors.
From the kick off Lymm immediately conceded a penalty on 25m due to obstruction but Cleckheaton failed to take advantage. However a few minutes later they were awarded a free kick 28m out on the left which resulted in their crossing the try line, 5 -0, the subsequent kick being missed. As the game hesitatingly progressed Lymm were lacking motivation and cohesion but on 10 minutes managed to progress to Cleckheaton’s 15m mark where the home side were penalised for not releasing which enabled McEvoy to slot the ball over, 5 – 3.
From the restart Lymm were again penalised, this time for coming in from the side and Cleckheaton gladly accepted the kick, 8 – 3. On the half hour mark the home side did not improve their fortunes when a yellow card reduced them to 14 men but this prompted their remaining team numbers into their strongest passage of play so far.
With half time beckoning a Lymm, no-arms tackle, resulted in a successful Cleckheaton kick 11 – 3. The referee’s whistle then spared the spectators further anguish, although it was noted that crowd numbers had now been augmented by those who had not been aware of the earlier kick off time.
The break gave the opportunity for the Lymm team to receive a verbal ear lashing from their captain Adam Bray for their depressing first half display. This seemed to spark some life into the players and it was but a few minutes later that outside centre Rick Halford, from his own 10m mark, galloped through Cleckheaton’s despairing tackles on a strong 40m run before winger Richard McEvoy was released to cross the line, 11 – 8.
A couple of minutes later it was a repeat performance from Halford and this time it was Lymm’s other winger, Mark Wells, who was the beneficiary as he put the ball down. This time McEvoy found his kicking accuracy again to put Lymm ahead, 11 – 15.
Lymm then seemed to consider this burst of intensity to be enough for the afternoon and contented themselves by focussing their minds on the forthcoming International at Twickenham. A high tackle by Lymm on their 10m line resulted in the Lymm captain being asked to take a 10 minute rest along with his yellow card, which duly enabled the Cleckheaton pack to force Lymm’s reduced numbers back over their line for a converted try.
Cleckheaton now found themselves in uncharted territory, leading 18 – 15. With but 10 minutes remaining Lymm still failed to impose their greater strengths on the game but then gained a penalty award 35m out, enabling McEvoy’s clinical boot to level the scores, 18 – 18. More uninspiring play from both sides slowly took the game towards its inevitable conclusion when, with the whistle between the referee’s lips ready to be blown at the next stoppage, a sudden misguided Lymm pass in midfield on their own 10m line was eagerly grabbed by the Cleckheaton stand-off, who duly ran in and placed it carefully under the posts.
The resultant easy kick duly sailed over to much exuberance from the Cleckheaton players who could not believe their luck in being handed such an unexpected lifeline in their bid to avoid their drop from the League, 25 – 18.
Lymm meanwhile were left to reflect on their lacklustre display resulting in a slide down the table to 5th place. They will need to sharpen up considerably as they face another trip over the Pennines next week, where they will come up against stand out League leaders Sheffield Tigers.
With four regular squad props unavailable this week all credit must be given to ex Colts Oscar McCormack and Kieron O’Callaghan, who stepped up and did not look out of place.
Cleckheaton can be thanked for their hospitality on the day and be congratulated on taking full advantage of Lymm’s generosity on the pitch and use it to continue to improve their League position and avoid an unwelcome drop.
Team
1) Mike Auden, 2) Ross White, 3) Oscar McCormack, 4) Will Baldwin, 5) Zak Lythgoe, 6) Adam Bray (C), 7) Jack Harper, 8) Olli Higginson, 9) Tom Baker, 10) Tom Bray, 11) Richard McEvoy, 12) Richard Halford, 13) Callum Harris, 14) Mark Wells, 15) Joe Knowles, 16) Kieron O’Callaghan, 17) Tom Shard, 18) Aaron Rasheed
It was not a good Saturday for the club, as with a mounting injury list and unavailability, 29 club players were unavailable and most importantly they included specialist prop forwards. Every team lost and sadly the 4th team, left with only 6 players, had to concede their fourth match of the season, which means that they have now been withdrawn from the Division 4 South League. However, there were comfortable wins for the U’16’s & U’17’s in their Cheshire Cup matches on Sunday.
