Caldy storm to victory against Flyde at Paton Field

Nov 12 2008 by Our Correspondent, Birkenhead News

CALDY will have to adopt a new nickname of the weathermen after another fantastic victory at Paton Field.

The Wirral team took full advantage of having the wind at their backs in the first half to amass a sizeable lead against Fylde, the biggest club in the division.

But even the visitors admitted the best team won, as Caldy showed their game is more than a stiff breeze with a sterling second half display to keep Fylde at bay.

As in previous weeks, Caldy overpowered the visitors from the first whistle. After five minutes, good play by Ian Critchley led to Mark Turner popping up a pass for the supporting Andy Soutar to score behind the posts. Gavin Roberts converted to make it 7-0.

Five minutes later, the half backs John Broxson and Ben Macpherson combined to inspire the try of the afternoon, when they broke out from deep inside their own 22. Roberts carried on their good work before Ian Murray took the scoring pass for a brilliant try, 12-0.

Fylde finally got on the scoresheet with two Steve Nutt penalties, with one from Roberts making it 15-6 after 20 minutes.

It was nip and tuck until on 35 minutes, Turner swept from one side of the field to the other to score wide out. Roberts converted to make the score 22-6 at the break.

Now with the wind at their backs, Fylde scored a converted try to make it 22-13 but the next 20 minutes belonged to Caldy.

Roberts kicked two more penalties, forced by good forward pressure, and then a typical Macpherson break led to Dave Mercer scoring the try.

At 33-13, the game was as good as over – although Fylde kept going to score two consolation tries for a final score of 33-23.

Caldy’s director of rugby, Tony Atherton, said: “It was a wonderful victory, with every player really standing up to Fylde and making a contribution.”