Furness 14 - 39 Didsbury Toc H

This was possibly one of Didsbury's best ever performances on their travels to Cumbria, securing the four try bonus point by half time and scoring seven tries in total.

Didsbury travelled with a strong squad, but to demonstrate the club's strength in depth they were still without Aidan Murphy (unavailable), Shaun Walker (injured), Neil Wilkinson (injured), James Southall (injured), Phil Lovely (injured), and Sam Moore (injured).

The game began with Didsbury on top, and this set the tone for the majority of the match. Didsbury's early pressure soon reaped rewards as centre Dylan Williams ran a good line close to a ruck and forced his way under the posts for the opening try. Sean Bishop added the conversion. Didsbury's pack was putting their Cumbrian opposition under pressure at the scrum and lineout, with Craig Lawless and Dave Jones teaming up well in the second row. Didsbury's back division were causing havoc in the Furness defence with Tom Makin, Sean Bishop and Dave Hoare making serious inroads into the home sides territory. And it was Makin who scored the second for Didsbury, jinking past several defenders before touching down. Bishop dropped just short with the conversion, but the lead was up to 0-12. Furness gave themselves a potential lifeline by scoring the next try. After the visitors conceded a number of penalties, Furness were able to stretch the Toc H defence to score near the sticks. The conversion creeped over to close the gap to 7-12. But Didsbury upped their efforts and their quality created a further two tries before the break. Mike Hyde finished off a well worked lineout drive, and Sean Bishop finished off a backs move. The referee blew the whistle for half time, and Didsbury had a good lead 7-24.

Furness tried to tighten things up at the start of the second half, but Didsbury defended well around the ruck and knocked the oncoming attackers backwards. Dave Hoare, never one to be left out of a tryfest, added a brace of tries and Sean Bishop scored his second. The highlight of the second half has to have been the handling leading up to Hoare's second try, pacey prop Mark Chambers passed the ball to Olly Thomas with a player inches from tackling him, Thomas deftly flicked the ball on to Hoare who finished off his sixth try of the season. With the game in it's dying minutes Furness won a penalty inside Didsbury's 22. The penalty was quickly tapped and the player was able to force his way over for a consolation try.

A good performance reflected in the final score of 14-39, and the vital away points keep Didsbury firmly in a midtable position and clear of the relegation places which currently includes Saturday's host's Furness. Coach Steve Popoola heaped praise on his squad, singling out the effort of backrow's Mark Harrison, Dave Foster and Andre Swan. Swan was later named Didsbury's man of the match, but scrum half Gaz Hannah-Oakley was voted man of the match by Furness' committee.

Competition for places will heat up at this weeks training, and Didsbury welcome Eccles to Ford Lane next Saturday 2:15pm kick off.