Craig kicks Wirral to victory over Altrincham Kersal

Oct 31 2012 by Our Correspondent, Birkenhead News

THIS was a game between two evenly matched sides but it was the kicking of Wirral captain, Craig Harvey that gave the home side a well earned but deserving victory.

However it was Altrincham Kersal who took the lead in the ninth minute when Wirral were attacking, a dropped pass and ineffectual tackling allowed winger Lewis Taylor to break the Wirral defence and use his blistering pace to run 70m to score under the posts, Nettleton converting. Gradually Wirral worked their way into the game and reduced the deficit with two penalties from Craig.

After some pressure on the Altrincham line, Wirral were awarded a double penalty, which left them 5m from the line. A quickly taken penalty by Craig caught the defence out and he dived over for a try which he duly converted to give Wirral a 13-7 half time lead.

Playing against the breeze in the second half, Wirral controlled the game and were able to build a 19-10 lead through penalties. In the last 10 minutes Altrincham strove for tries to win the game but the Wirral defence remained solid and ultimately Altrincham settled for a penalty in the last minute to give the away side a losing bonus point.