North 2 West, 10th November 2007

Broughton Park 10 v 7 Lymm

'Park's injury hit team were under pressure for the first 10 minutes when Lymm retained the ball for many phases and all 'Park could do was clear their lines which gave the ball back to Lymm for them to be under pressure again. 'Park's tackling was up to the task but overeagerness gave Lymm a kickable penalty which they missed.

'Park weathered the storm and managed to get into the Lymm half where they had a lineout on the Lymm 10 metre line. From the lineout the ball was sent to stand in out half Tom Mapp who burst through tackles and spurned support on both sides to score near the posts. Tom converted his own kick to make the score 7 - 0 after 16 minutes.

'Park's scrum-half had to go off for a blood injury but scrum half Steve Elliot who was playing on the wing slotted in at scrum half to play his best 10 minutes at scrum-half that I have seen him play. The service was quick and the back line was set moving to cross the gain line.

For the rest of the half 'Park were camped on the Lymm line using driven mauls but Lymm were up to the task and held 'Park out. 'Park did get the ball over the line but it was ruled by the referee to be held up. They were also just about to drive over the line for a score when they were penalised for a 'Truck & Trailer' offence which relieved the pressure on Lymm.

Although 'Park had plenty of possession it was given away many times with kicks ahead to give the ball back to the opposition. I suppose it was only fair. Lymm couldn't win the ball so why don't we kick it to them?

The 2nd half continued with 'Park retaining the ball and gradually gaining ground but becoming impatient and kicking the ball to the opposition or giving penalties away. An opposition specatator was heard to say if 'Park had kept their discipline then they would be 30 points in front.

'Park won the ball just outside Lymm's 22 and spun it to Tom Mapp who drove to 10 metres short of the Lymm line but instead of getting support from his forwards there was a bout of fisticuffs which stopped the support arriving. However, Lymm were penalised and Tom Mapp put over the penalty off the post to make the score 10 - 0 with 15 minutes to go.

A wayward kick from 'Park gave the dangerous Lymm backs chance to run and the ball was slickly handled along the line for the Lymm winger to dodge tackles and run around under the posts for a converted try with just 2 minutes plus injury time to go.

'Park having learned their lesson kept the ball in their hands and drove Lymm up towards their line and after many phases of driving eventually got the ball over the line only again for it to be ruled 'held up'.

A dogged performance in which everyone tackled their hearts out and the young guns in the forwards stood up to be counted. New winger Adam Knight looks to be a find and when 'Park can get back all their players from injury maybe he will score a few points.