Didsbury Toc H 12 – 24 Aldwinians

But a late rally by Didsbury showed the beginnings of a return to form for the Ford Lane outfit.

Aldwinians are performing well in the league , sitting fourth in the table before Saturday’s encounter, so Didsbury knew they would have their work cut out against the visitors from Tameside.

The first fifteen minutes was a tight affair with neither side quite finding their rhythm, but it was Aldwinians who first established a grip on the game. Good ball control and possession by the visitors created space for their quick right winger to score in the corner. Didsbury were having to work hard to maintain any serious possession and field position, and from a turnover in Aldwinians half the visitors worked the ball down field to score under the posts. The extras were added and the lead was up to 12 points, and it stayed that way until halftime through a mixture of good defending by Didsbury and errors by Winnies.

Aldwinians maintained their pressure from the restart, and soon added their third and fourth tries to bring up the bonus point and a lead of 0-24. With twenty five minutes left Toc H started to find their patterns of play, and took a strangle hold for the remainder of the match. With the backrow of Murphy, Foster and Harrison (who came on to replace an injured Andre Swan) particularly impressive in this period. With the home pack now on the front foot the backline started to fire with Anton Vasseur and Tom Makin starting to make serious headway in midfield. Aidan Murphy crashed over for the home side’s first try of the game, and the conversion was added by Gaz Oakley. Didsbury maintained the pressure and with time running out the ball was worked into the Aldwinians 22, and with defenders sucked into the maul the ball was spread wide to flanker Mark Harrison to score another try for Toc H. The missed conversion brought the game to an end.

Despite the defeat Didsbury will take some positives from the game, particularly the way they finished the game. But the rustiness they showed at the start will have to be worked on, with training returning to a more regular structure (with the weather hopefully improving), and games now scheduled for every Saturday up to the end of the season.

Next Saturday Didsbury welcome De La Salle to Ford Lane, 3pm kick off.