Glossop 2nd XV…10 Aldwinians 2nd XV…14
Aldwinians 2nd team made the short journey to Hargate Hill for the first of the two local derbies this season. The match saw the return to the club of Rick Easton who had switched allegiance at the end of last season. He was not slow to boast about the Aldwinians’ unbeaten start to the season.
Following an under-prepared performance against Buxton the previous week, resulting in defeat, Glossop were out early to warm up and prepare properly, knowing the game ahead could be a close one.
The game commenced, and the early exchanges were very much between the forwards as both teams fought for supremacy. When the first scrum was awarded, it was head and feed to Aldwinians. Glossop packed down and completely decimated the Aldwinians’ pack, stealing possession against the head. The same was repeated shortly after at the next scrum, as the ‘Winnies pack struggled to find any hint of parity in the set piece. Front row players Wes, Paul and Alan were outstanding in the scrum all game, and Wes showed great mobility throughout the rest of the game.
In similar defiance, the Aldwinians back line threatened little in attack, and failed to once break the Glossop defensive line. To fail to mention the solid defence provided by Aldwinians would be unfair, as they too were resolute in their bid to halt Glossop progress. That said, it was certainly Glossop that showed the most endeavour with the ball in hand, passing freely and probing the Aldwinians defence. With little definitive penetration by either team in the first 15 minutes, the Aldwinians 12 opted to punish Glossop’s indiscipline by taking the 3 points from a dead-cert penalty resulting from backchat to the referee.
5 minutes later and in similar circumstances, Glossop were punished again for the same offence. In what was proving to be a close contest, these points may come back to haunt Glossop.
As if this had fired up the Glossop boys, they attacked with fresh purpose. Fitton and Sonczak linked up well to make good progress and the endeavour was followed by a break from Percy from within his own half. Only metres short of the line the ball was off-loaded to Murphy who juggled and was stopped just short.
It had become clear that if the ball could be shipped out past the opponent inside centre, then there was little else that Aldwinians had by way of defence. An Aldwinians infringement gave Glossop a penalty which first team regular John Murphy slotted over to half the deficit.
From the restart, returning former player Easton ran towards contact on the wing, and immediately before being tackled surrendered the ball by throwing it forward in ludicrous fashion, much to the unrestrained laughter of the Glossop players.
At half time, stand-in skipper Sonczak encouraged the Glossop team knowing that they were dominant in the forwards and had the pace and ability in the backs. It was true that poor execution had been Glossop’s only let down so far. Fitton was unable to continue having injured his knee, so Murphy moved to stand-off and Gibb came on as replacement wingman.
From the kick-off, the change looked to have given Glossop some fresh impetus going forward as Murphy used his first team experience to take the game to Aldwinians. Disappointingly, four visits to the opponents’ 22 yielded no reward, much to frustration of sidelined skipper Andy.
Much against the run of play, the visitors – having survived a relentless onslaught – seized their chance on a rare visit to Glossop’s half and crossed the line for their only try of the game. The referee was oblivious to the blatant forward pass that led to the try (admitted by their outside centre when the game was over). The conversion missed, leaving scores at 11-3. Taking heart from their domination thus far this half, Glossop remained determined not to lose.
Aldwinians were wise to the words of the referee who had encouraged players to refrain from use of the boot in the rucks, and as a consequence their number 6 spent most of the second half hiding from the ref on the wrong side of the ruck, slowing the ball down and disrupting from a place he shouldn’t have been in. The frustration spilled over into some minor skirmishes led more often that not by Martin Lindsay.
At one point the referee lost the plot, completely over-looking a clear-cut knock-on from Aldwinians and subsequently awarded them another penalty that never should have been. The Winnies 12 converted to extend the visitor’s lead.
Glossop rallied and played with real purpose for the last 10 minutes in particular. The Murphy brothers linked up to devastating effect to raise hope of a last-minute comeback. Paul applied the after-burners to escape the winger and the full back, and passed outside for John to finish the move directly under the posts.
Another scrum would prove to be the last set piece of the game and the backs lined up. The move broke down when play went blind and the Aldwinians players combined to put Wrigley into touch.
Man of the match was awarded to John Murphy, although he was not around to receive the accolade - he'd already left for the theatre!
Any defeat is unpleasant. It’s more so when it’s to your local rivals and you’ve out-played them for 80 minutes and still lost. Poor execution was Glossop’s downfall, and skipper Andy will be keen to see Glossop become more ruthless as the season progresses, starting next week against Northwich.