Hard day at office as Hoylake edge Ashton

Sep 22 2010 by Our Correspondent, Birkenhead News

NEWLY-PROMOTED Ashton-on-Mersey couldn’t repeat their impressive opening day victory over Bowden as Hoylake powered their way to a 15-8 away-day win.

Hoylake played through the phases and some excellent direct running from forwards Philip James, Matt O’ Neil and influential number 8 Rob Kurton.

Finally the pressure told and Hoylake took a lead through a Stephen Young penalty.

However this seemed to wake up Ashton and they put some pressure and the situation was further compounded by the loss of James after 20 minutes to a hamstring injury.

After Ashton had levelled the game with a penalty of their own, it looked like it was going to be a tough day at the office for Hoylake.

On 30 minutes play became scrappy and resulted in some loose play on the floor and as Ashton pushed into Hoylake territory, they eventually went over in the corner to take an 8-3 lead at the break.

In the second period, Hoylake’s pack began to reassert their dominance before Young made one of his trademark breaks powering through the weakening defence to score near to the posts. He converted his own try to give Hoylake a slender 10-8 lead.

Late on, a flicked ball at the base of the scrum from Kurton to scrum half, Selby-Milic, created the overlap for Flint to squeeze in at the corner.

Substitute prop, Butterworth, was sin binned as Ashton made one final push but some poor handling finally gave the game to Hoylake after more than five minutes injury time.

Not a vintage performance by Hoylake but a welcome four points gained on the road, against potentially difficult opponents.

The reshuffled pack deserved considerable praise as they largely dominated proceedings. The back row worked well and looked strong in defence whilst the front three were powerful with ball in hand.

Next week, Hoylake entertain Widnes at Melrose Avenue.