Hero of the day Dodd puts Birkenhead in driving seat

Dec 6 2006 Wirral News

TWO excellent first-half tries by centre Steve Dodd put Birkenhead Park in the driving seat in their North One derby against New Brighton.

The Blues threatened to spoil the party with a couple of third quarter touchdowns before Park settled down again to deservedly takethe spoils 30-12.

A big blow for New Brighton was the loss of fly-half Ian Kennedy with a facial injury in the opening quarter, but they could have few complaints over the result that leaves them rooted at the foot of the table.

Alex Davies kicked acouple of first-quarter penalties for Park and then Dodd went in after some excellent buildup playinvolving Davies and Matt Pennington.

A second Dodd touchdown after more good approach work plus one conversion by Davies made it 18-0 at the halfway stage. The Blues then enjoyed their best spell. It needed a last-ditch clearance by Pennington to deny them a try soon after the re-start but then touchdowns by Sean Ellis after 50 minutes and Dan Naylor four minutes later, plus aJon Harris goal, threw the game wide open.

Park, however, recovered from their ragged spell and steadied the ship with a try from hooker Stu Brown from a driving maul.

Then Pennington intercepted and ran 40 metres fortry number four on 78 minutes, with Davies landing his fourth successful kick from easy range.

Matt Thompson did well at scrum-half for the winners and Dodd, in addition to his try-scoring centre display, also set a fine example defensively. Brighton lost for the 10th time in the division.

Caldy produced their best rugby of the season to demolish North One promotion rivals Kendal 39-12 at Paton Field.

The Cumbrians had no answer as the Wirral side ran up a36-0 lead by half-time. Richard Bradshaw gained two tries with others from Loa Topou, Marcus Coast and Craig Ross.