A fleeting chance of victory...

Didsbury Toc H made the trip to runaway and undefeated league leaders Fleetwood, and in the end the Ford Lane team would have been disappointed to come away empty handed. The final score of 34-20 perhaps slightly flattered the hosts, with Didsbury conceding two late converted tries.

Toc H named a very strong travelling team, in the pack Tony Ames slotted into the loosehead berth, Shaun Walker made his return to the second row, and last seasons highly accoladed backrow of Aidan Murphy, Dave Foster and Andre Swan all started. In the backs mercurial Joe Bradbury replaced the absent Sean Bishop, and to maintain the powerful centre pairing of Dylan Williams and Anton Vasseur Tom Makin returned to the side on the wing.

In the tight opening exchanges both teams sought to find their pattern of play, with Didsbury's pack immediately dominating at the scrum and disrupting Fleetwood possession. The first chance to spread the play came to Didsbury who worked the ball right to Dave Hoare. Hoare pinned his ears back and scorched in at the corner. Gaz Oakley missed the conversion and the early lead was 0-5. Fleetwood responded almost immediately, a rolling maul try levelling the score 5-5. The hosts took the lead with a breakout from their own half, with the try finished under the posts. The extras were added and Didsbury needed to dig deep to avoid Fleetwood getting a stranglehold on the match, the response came and after several phases Oakley converted a penalty closing the gap to 12-8. Again Fleetwood struck back, the first attack was thwarted by good Didsbury defence and from the resulting scrum the ball squirted out the back allowing the home side's number 9 to touch down. The tricky conversion went over and Fleetwood led 19-8, a lead they maintained until half-time.

Didsbury flew out of the blocks in the second half and had their best spell of the match, with play predominantly played in Fleetwood territory. Good ball set-up by the Toc H pack was fed to Hoare who cut through the defence and cleverly popped the ball to the supporting Vasseur who scored under the posts. Oakley converted the try, but narrowly missed a penalty which was awarded shortly after. The league leaders were unable to contain the now buoyant visitors, and when Ames surged towards the posts the ball was quickly recycled to fullback Olly Thomas who beat a man and timed his pass to Hoare to score out wide. Didsbury's twenty minute spell to start the second half saw them regain the lead at 19-20. Fleetwood battled their way into Didsbury territory and after several periods of play deep in the Didsbury 22, space was worked for Fleetwood's captain to dive over for their third try and retake the lead. The lead was further increased with a penalty, but at 27-20 down Didsbury were still holding onto a losing bonus point. But with the game nearing the final whistle the homeside launched another counter-attack and when the fly-half chipped the ball forward the move appeared to have broken down. but the bounce was cruel to Didsbury and Fleetwood raced to their fourth try and finish the game 34-20.

Despite being unable to secure any league points Toc H will take several positives from the match. The scrum was dominant throughout, including taking a ball against the head when down to seven in the pack, also Didsbury were able to convert chances into scores.

Next Saturday Didsbury welcome near neighbours Heaton Moor to Ford Lane, 2:15pm kick off.