Furness 30 – 30 Didsbury Toc H

With the overnight frost causing the cancellation of most matches in the northwest, there were some concerns before Didsbury set of for Barrow based outfit Furness. These concerns were allayed upon arrival at the ground, the pitch was still hard but the bright sunshine had thawed the pitch sufficiently to allow the game to take place.
Furness, struggling at the wrong end of the league, would have been clear about their task at hand – a vital home victory and as many league points as possible.

Furness kicked off the game and were soon first on the scoreboard. Their influential player/coach and former Barrow RL point’s machine, Darren Holt slotted a good penalty. This score was soon cancelled out by Didsbury’s very own point’s machine, Sean Bishop. But Didsbury soon learnt that they couldn’t concede any penalties within range of their posts, as Holt converted another penalty to regain the lead. The Didsbury pack had the upperhand in the tight exchanges, with captain Mike Hyde setting his stall out with a number of strikes against the head. The Didsbury rolling maul has harvested countless tries this season, and when the pack got into the Furness 22 they drove over for the first try of the match. Fittingly Andy Lynn came up with the ball, on his last appearance for Didsbury before returning home to Northern Ireland. Bishop added the conversion and Didsbury had their tails up at 6-10. Furness were forced back into their own territory after the restart, and Didsbury managed to recycle the ball and spread it wide for a certain looking try. Only for a Furness player to deliberately knock the ball on, lucky to stay on the pitch, the referee awarded a penalty. Hyde showed his faith in his pack as he declined the kick at goal and instead elected for the scrum. His judgement was justified as the Didsbury pack drove their host’s scrum over the tryline for number 8 James Eames to touch down. Bishop again added the conversion and the lead was upto 11 points, 6-17. Didsbury’s indiscretions were punished by Holt adding two more penalties before the half time whistle, making the scoreline a more competitive 12-17 at the break.

Didsbury flew out of the traps in the second half, with some fine handling in the backs, the ball found Bishop unmarked who raced in at the corner for a try. The conversion drifted wide, but perhaps Didsbury could feel comfortable at 12-22. Furness showed their character, and struck back with two quick fire tries one of which was converted. This gave the home side the lead at 24-22. The topsy-turvy game continued as Bishop regained the lead for Didsbury with a kick, only for Furness’ second choice kicker to convert two well taken penalties. Didsbury returned to the attack, and prop Steve McDonough was unlucky to not be awarded a try when he was adjudged to have been held up. At 30-25 and with little time left, the dominant Didsbury pack turned a scrum over and won a penalty in Furness territory. From the resulting lineout Didsbury forced another penalty, and again elected for the scrum. True to form the strong Didsbury pack drove over for Eames to complete his brace of tries. Bishop missed the conversion and the game finished 30-all.

Didsbury came away with 3 league points (for scoring the four tries and the draw), and Furness 2 league points for the draw. The result saw Didsbury climb to a creditable fifth in the league, and next Saturday welcome Keswick to Ford Lane 2:15pm kick off.