Determination ensures crucial points for Caldy

Feb 18 2009 by Our Correspondent, Birkenhead News

AFTER a season of entertaining and open rugby, Caldy clinched a crucial 7-9 victory at Leicester thanks to guts and sheer determination.

Facing a pumped up home team and in windy and muddy conditions, they were behind for almost all of the game.

But somehow they found a way to win and stay on top of the league ahead of the crucial match with Nuneaton this weekend.

The game started with Caldy against the wind and slope, and on the defensive with Leicester’s Billy Blair kicking the ball deep into their half.

Lions missed one chance when wing Gareth Roberts was ruled to have pushed Andrew Soutar before scoring, but made no mistake on 17 minutes.

Caldy captain Shaun Woof and stand off Chris Buck had hacked a dropped pass away only for Leicester full back Gareth Collins to gather the ball, then chip over the defence to put Roberts in under the posts. Blair’s conversion made it 7-0.

The match was riddled with handling errors from both sides, but Caldy finally came to life when Olly Cooper nearly scored a try after 30 minutes – only to see his own grubber kick sneak out of play.

Just a few minutes later, the Leicester Lions scrum-half was penalised for offside, allowing Gavin Roberts to slot his first penalty of the day, 7-3.

Whatever happened at half-time made the difference as Caldy came out in the second half looking hungrier and sharper.

Dave Mercer and Matt Lamming had a fantastic second half, making several powerful runs. One such run from Mercer led to the referee on 57 minutes penalising Leicester for coming in at the side and Roberts again made the kick for 7-6.

For the next 20 minutes, Caldy threw everything at their hosts, only to be denied time and again by excellent defence.

Roberts missed two long-range penalties and it looked like Leicester would hold out. But a run by Woof down the centre of the field led to another penalty – this time in front of the posts – and the Welsh points machine made no mistake to make it 7-9.

It was not a game for the purists, but Caldy had yet again overcome a very difficult hurdle in their pursuit of promotion. Now for Nuneaton. Man of the Match was Dave Mercer.

A hard-fought and sometimes ill-tempered cross-river derby went the way of New Brighton, when they maintained their winning run since the turn of the year in North Two West to claim a 20-11 victory over Liverpool St Helens.

LSH had a dream start and went on to build an 11-0 advantage inside 17 minutes, but the Blues clawed their way back to eventually turn round 13-11 to the good and gained the only score in a disappointing second period punctuated by mistakes and stoppages.

Mat Cunliffe put the finishing touch to a Liverpool St Helens move straight from the kick-off for a try inside 30 seconds and Simon Worlsey went on to add a brace of penalties.

Stephen Dean replied with a kick for Brighton and then strong forward pressure culminated in a try for skipper Kati Tuipulotu with Dean converting.

The home fly-half hit a post with another penalty attempt but was successful from easy range.

Cunliffe and Brighton’s Joel Parker were dispatched to the sin bin after a flare-up and the Blues exploited the extra space as Greg Hughes crossed following good build up play involving Ryan McKibbin and Paul Lewis.

Dean converted and hit the post with another penalty attempt.

Birkenhead Park followed up their success over third-placed Sheffield Tigers with another fine victory – this time a 13-7 win over second placed Hull in North One.

Dave Hall broke the deadlock with a penalty on 72 minutes and followed up with a second kick four minutes later.

Hull looked as if they had sneaked the verdict when the forwards drove over for a try via hooker Scott Plevey in the 79th minute, James Cameron converting from wide out.

But Hull were forced to touch down for a five-metre scrum after a kick through by Anthony Malloy.

The home side won possession and it was Tony Handley who found the gap for a crucial touchdown with Hall adding the extras.

There was still time for the visitors to produce one more drive for the line but a knock on in the melee which followed signalled the end.

Stephen Dodd was superb in attack and defence in the Park centre. Hooker Christian Jones and back-row men Dave Ibbotoson and Mike Brace made their presence felt in the back row.

Hoylake fell 21-3 at home to Bowdon in South Lancashire/ Cheshire One. They had to settle for a penalty by Chris Whiteley against in-form opposition.

Warrington stayed top of Division Two with a 23-16 win over Wallasey, who gained two tries by Greg Hughes and another via Matt Climo.