Caldy breathe sigh of relief with vital win over Morley

Jan 16 2008 by Our Correspondent, Birkenhead News

CALDY gave themselves breathing space over their rivals near the foot of the National Three North League table with a 27-18 victory at Morley.

The Wirral side adapted well to the task – although both sides were nervous and made mistakes on the heavy pitch, especially in the opening period.

Craig Ross ran in a fourth-minute try for Caldy, but back-row forward Craig Field responded for Morley. Neil Boyd converted and also struck a penalty.

A Simon Mason kick cut the home advantage to two points, but ahead of the break Field raced 40 metres for a try after a kick was charged down to make it 15-8.

The visitors went on to dominate the second period and pressure eventually paid off as Richard Bradshaw went in from a rolling maul.

Then skipper Sean Woof burst through the middle to cross before Matt Pennington grabbed the fourth try with Mason converting.

The only home response was another penalty for Boyd and the five points from the match lifted Caldy above Harrogate to fifth bottom.

Matt Holt was an early Caldy casualty with a hamstring problem but Neil Dowridge proved an able deputy.

Meanwhile, an absorbing EDF Energy Intermediate Cup fourth round tie at the Upper Park only just went the way of home side Birkenhead Park, who beat Luctonians 10-6.

Park, in scoring two tries to nil, undoubtedly deserved a place in the last eight, but it was very close.

Twice the home side fell behind, but twice they hit back for crucial scores. Both sides showed tremendous defensive qualities, but Park just gained the edge up front. In the opening period ,Luctonians sneaked ahead with the last kick of the half by Chris James after Park paid for a forward indiscretion near their own posts.

Birkenhead skipper Dave Ibbotson then broke from a scrum on the blind side and Steve Lowry carried on the move before putting Jon Brennand in for a simple touch-down.

The conversion by Dave Hall fell agonisingly short and it seemed Park might pay when James struck a second Luctonians penalty for a front-row scrummage offence.

Hall was wide with a long-range penalty, but then the home side produced strong pressure which resulted in an unconverted Christian Jones try.

It was his 28th try of the season and he is the leading try-scorer in the country. Park then dominated the final 10 minutes of stoppage time with some adroit touch-line kicking by Handley breaking the Luctonians hearts. Elsewhere, Wirral failed to take their scoring opportunities as they went 10-13 under to Burnage in South Lancashire/Cheshire Onein a close contest.

The home side hit back well from a 10-0 interval deficit with a try from Alistair Baker and a conversion and penalty from Dan Harvey. But Burnage managed a crucial second-half penalty to add to a similar score and a converted try up to half-time.