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Sat 03 Apr 2010
Littleborough
1st XV
15:00
Littleborough 19 - 43 Didsbury Toc H
Jon Walker8 Apr 2010 - 11:59
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A Tom Rooney hat trick and some sustained pressure saw Didsbury beat Littleborough 19-43 in North Lancs 1 action last Saturday.
Didsbury, still missing some players from the squad due to injury and unavailability, named a hefty backline with an exciting centre pairing of Andy Popoola and Ashley Chivers, with wings of James Southall and Rooney. This, plus the experience of Dylan Williams at fullback gave the halfbacks of Oakley and Wilkinson a lot of options out wide.
Before Saturday’s match Littleborough had been one of the form sides in the league, winning their last seven games. This form was no match for the visiting Didsbury side who immediately put the home side under the cosh and raced to a 17 point lead with three tries in the first 25 minutes. Littleborough were unable to stop the visitors recycling the ball and using several phases of forward play to suck in the defenders. The first try was a barnstorming run down the wing by Tom Rooney, who shrugged off several would be tacklers to touch down out wide. The second try again involved Rooney who showed good awareness to feed the ball back inside to Chivers who showed good speed to touch down by the posts, unfortunately the conversion was missed by the mercurial Gaz Oakley. Oakley made up for this with the conversion for Didsbury third try of the match and the second for Rooney who was causing Littleborough defensive problems down the left wing. Littleborough managed to get some sort of possession and briefly threatened the Didsbury line with a good lineout drive, this attacked was well dealt with by Didsbury. All the visiting forwards were performing well, with each player taking the ball on strongly, with good breaks being made by Steve McDonough, Mike Hyde and Shaun Walker. Littleborough have a number of quick players in the ranks and when the ball was intercepted from a loose Didsbury pass it seemed a try would be conceded. But a fine effort by second row Phil Cooper saw him track back to halt the runner. The Didsbury backline were making some fine breaks and Andy Popoola, making a welcome return to the first team squad added the fourth try before half time to make the score 24-0.
Didsbury continued the pressure in second half, and now had the use of the slope. Early in the second half Rooney completed his hat trick diving in at the corner unmarked. Littleborough, never a team to rollover particularly at home, got a fortuitous try from a mix up in the Didsbury defence. Didsbury replied with further tries from Popoola and a well deserved score for Southall who managed to carry several defenders over the tryline with him in the act of scoring. Littleborough struck back with a second and third try before the final whistle, their third a well worked effort.
A final score of 19-43 was a good result and a fair reward for Didsbury’s efforts. The win further reinforces their claims for second spot giving them a 2 point lead over Trafford and having 2 games in hand.
Next Saturday Didsbury welcome near neighbours Old Bedians to Ford Lane in North Lancs 1, 3pm kick off, and they play Littleborough on the Sunday in the semi final of the Lancashire Plate also at Ford Lane.
Before Saturday’s match Littleborough had been one of the form sides in the league, winning their last seven games. This form was no match for the visiting Didsbury side who immediately put the home side under the cosh and raced to a 17 point lead with three tries in the first 25 minutes. Littleborough were unable to stop the visitors recycling the ball and using several phases of forward play to suck in the defenders. The first try was a barnstorming run down the wing by Tom Rooney, who shrugged off several would be tacklers to touch down out wide. The second try again involved Rooney who showed good awareness to feed the ball back inside to Chivers who showed good speed to touch down by the posts, unfortunately the conversion was missed by the mercurial Gaz Oakley. Oakley made up for this with the conversion for Didsbury third try of the match and the second for Rooney who was causing Littleborough defensive problems down the left wing. Littleborough managed to get some sort of possession and briefly threatened the Didsbury line with a good lineout drive, this attacked was well dealt with by Didsbury. All the visiting forwards were performing well, with each player taking the ball on strongly, with good breaks being made by Steve McDonough, Mike Hyde and Shaun Walker. Littleborough have a number of quick players in the ranks and when the ball was intercepted from a loose Didsbury pass it seemed a try would be conceded. But a fine effort by second row Phil Cooper saw him track back to halt the runner. The Didsbury backline were making some fine breaks and Andy Popoola, making a welcome return to the first team squad added the fourth try before half time to make the score 24-0.
Didsbury continued the pressure in second half, and now had the use of the slope. Early in the second half Rooney completed his hat trick diving in at the corner unmarked. Littleborough, never a team to rollover particularly at home, got a fortuitous try from a mix up in the Didsbury defence. Didsbury replied with further tries from Popoola and a well deserved score for Southall who managed to carry several defenders over the tryline with him in the act of scoring. Littleborough struck back with a second and third try before the final whistle, their third a well worked effort.
A final score of 19-43 was a good result and a fair reward for Didsbury’s efforts. The win further reinforces their claims for second spot giving them a 2 point lead over Trafford and having 2 games in hand.
Next Saturday Didsbury welcome near neighbours Old Bedians to Ford Lane in North Lancs 1, 3pm kick off, and they play Littleborough on the Sunday in the semi final of the Lancashire Plate also at Ford Lane.
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