West Bridgford…17 Glossop…12
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It was a disappointing day for the first XV as they fell to newly promoted West Bridgford. The preparation again left a lot to be desired and the confidence of travelling with a strong squad was negated by arriving too late to warm up properly. Bridgford capitalised on Glossop’s early weariness by scoring two tries in the opening ten minutes. It was obvious that the journey had not been shaken off by the Glossop men, and West Bridgford were hungry for points. There brighter start saw them play good, quick rucking rugby, and it took only a few minutes for them to break a sloppy Glossop defensive line, 5-0 to the hosts. Further punishment was dealt out as Bridgford’s pack managed to steal a lineout and roll over the line. It was 10-0 to Bridgford and Glossop were still half asleep.
The rest of the half was Glossop’s but they couldn’t make the pressure and possession count. Good dynamic ball was being produced but a lack of support meant that half breaks lead to nothing. Eventually Glossop did manage to get something for their efforts. A good counter attack saw lock Dan Clark make good yards, he then passed wide to Sean Cassell who finished a fine move off in the corner. Further chances to score presented themselves but Bridgeford were doing all they could to kill the ball on the floor and this halted Glossop’s momentum. The referee finally deemed that the Nottinghamshire side were slowing the game down illegally. Unfortunately they were not punished as Horbatchewskyj penalty sailed wide. The scores stood at 10-5 going into the break.
The second half started poorly for Glossop as they napped once again and let a speculative chip over the defence fall fortuitously into West Bridgford hands. This, it turned out, was to be the killer blow. No matter how hard Glossop pushed for the rest of the half they struggled to finish promising moves off. Jon Murphy was running riot in the middle of the pitch, skipping past players as though they were standing still. Fly half Horbatchewskyj and centre Pickerell were also causing havoc but credit to Bridgford they scrambled well and always put the last ditch tackle in. With five minutes to go Glossop scored again through Richard Tamplin, his run off the quick tap penalty resulted in him blasting through the opposition props to make it 17-10, Horbatchewskyj slotted a difficult conversion. Three minutes were left on the clock but to Glossop’s frustration they failed to mount one last attack.
Next week Glossop 1st’s travel to St Helens to take on Ruskin Park in the EDF cup, hopefully they can put league form to one side and get back to winning ways.
The 2nd XV secured a good victory against Winnington Park, 26-14 and the 3’s crushed their counterparts and local rivals Dunkinfield, 47-5 away from home.