Didsbury Toc H 10 - 17 Eccles

Didsbury Toc H welcomed the North Lancs and Cumbria's leagues high flyers Eccles to Ford Lane last Saturday. With the home side only showing glimpses of their previously good form, they lost two tries to three 10-17.

Didsbury's squad would have entered the game buoyed by the fact that they had taken maximum five league points in the previous two games, but Eccles themselves have shown good form this season having only lost three times in the ten matches played. Didsbury made a few changes from the previous weeks successful side, Dave Foster replacing Andre Swan, Anton Vasseur coming into the centres in place of Tom Makin, and Richie Bray appearing on the wing. Toc H were also forced into a late change when second row Dave Jones was ruled out with an injury picked up in the warm-up. Dave Brooks came of the bench to replace Jones in the starting line up.

Eccles opened the scoring with a try near the posts, good possession was fed to the centres were missed tackles allowed a visiting player space enough to stretch over the tryline. Eccles strength lay in their pack and their potent rolling maul. Didsbury thwarted a number of further Eccles attacks, before a well organised catch and drive from a lineout saw the visitors force their way over for a second try to lead 0-12. Eccles pushed hard for further scores, but Toc H started to show signs of the team that had performed so well this season. Dave Hoare made a number of good breaks, ably supported by Vasseur and Olly Thomas. A number of phases of possession took Didsbury deep into Eccles' territory and when the ball found number 8 Dave Foster he elluded several tackles to touch down. Sean Bishop missed the resulting conversion and the score remained 5-12 until halftime.

Didsbury had the first scoring opportunity of the second half with Sean Bishop sending a penalty narrowly wide of the posts. And Eccles seized their third score with another try from a lineout. It was from here that Didsbury took control of the game for the last twenty five minutes. Aidan Murphy, Mike Hyde and Dave Hoare all going close to crossing the whitewash, before Hoare finally squeezed over out wide from a Didsbury scrum. Despite exerting all the late pressure Didsbury were unable to close the 10-17 gap further, and Eccles were much the happier side to hear the final whistle.

Next week Didsbury face the daunting trip to runaway league leaders Fleetwood.