Didsbury Toc H 18 – 19 Blackburn

Losing 18-19 to visitors Blackburn, who have been in fine form in North Lancs and Cumbria league.

Toc H were without veteran prop Steve McDonough, so a reshuffle saw Mike Hyde move to prop and flanker Dave Foster step up into the hooker berth.
Blackburn had the best of the opening exchanges, and only some fine Didsbury defence limited the visitors to a penalty kick. Didsbury came more into the encounter and Sean Bishop, who’s kicking practice is clearly paying off, slotted two well taken penalties giving the hosts a slender 6-3 lead. Didsbury’s backline looked dangerous, particularly when the ball was in the hands of wingers Hoare and Rooney. Dave Hoare, who has been Didsbury’s major attacking threat this season, then scored one of the tries of the season. Hoare received the ball just inside the Blackburn half, with a number of defenders converging on him, he skilfully dodged one attempted tackle and chipped the ball over the remaining defence. The ball stood up for Hoare to regather and touched down for his fourteenth try of the campaign. Bishop calmly converted, taking the score to 13-3. Blackburn’s kicker closed the gap to 13-6 with a penalty before the break.

Blackburn put Didsbury immediately under pressure after the restart, and after several phases on the Didsbury line Blackburn got over for a try. The conversion was added, levelling the scores at 13-all. Blackburn then took the lead with another penalty, 13-16. Didsbury worked hard to gain field position, and from a 5metre lineout the ball was driven over, with captain Mike Hyde claiming his sixth try of the season. The conversion went across the face of the posts, but the lead had see-sawed again, now 18-16 in Didsbury’s favour. Both teams strived for another crucial score, with Foster and James Eames making telling breaks for Toc H, but the final pass was never quite there. With time up Blackburn were awarded a penalty, some 40 metres from the posts. With the referee declaring it the last play of the game Blackburn decided to go for goal. The sterling effort went just wide and Didsbury had surely secured the win. But instead of touching the ball down behind the posts, Joe Bradbury mistakenly threw the ball over the dead ball line. The referee, much to the utter disbelief of the spectators and players, correctly awarded another penalty to Blackburn. This time in front of the posts, and the Burn kicker held his nerve to send the ball over.

A strange end to the game, but Didsbury will have to take heart from their performance and only a cruel twist at the end denied them a win. The coaching staff will take a moral victory, but will have things to work on as the squad travels to St Benedicts next Saturday.