Glossop 3rd XV 40 – Duckinfield 3rd XV 0
Saturday 2nd February
Firstly I apologise for the lateness of this report, I’ve recently changed jobs so I’m just trying to prioritise and manage time a little better at the moment so I can keep these up to date.
In the morning of February the 2nd a blanket of snow covered most of the Glossop area and a game being played looked very unlikely. Fortunately the day brightened up and by match time the only evidence that it had snowed at all were the patches left on the high peaks surrounding the Glossop rugby club. This was especially fortuitous for Glossop seeing as they had all three teams playing at home this week and so to call off all of the games would have disappointed many people. Glossop thirds were to take the field after the 2nd XV had finished their game. They left the field having lost a close game against Didsbury so the 3rd XV were even more determined the get a win under the eyes of the other players and spectators also watching the 1st XV game on the adjacent pitch.
Whereas with Glossop games of late where they have taken a good ten/twenty minutes to really get going that certainly wasn’t the case here. Perhaps as little as two minutes had passed when returning from a long spell injured, prop (though he’ll claim number eight) Marshall barged his way over from about five metres out to reopen his try scoring account. Jon Robinson once again took over kicking duty and slotted over the conversion. The previous result between these two sides was a heavy win for Glossop and the home side were definitely on track to at least match the tally put passed them previously in a game they dominated. In last weeks cup match against New Brighton scrum half Dave Alderdyce had really commanded the game and this week he didn’t look like he wanted to stop doing exactly that once more. He was only denied the man of the match award from a superb hat trick from young winger Reddington and Dave obviously wanted to make sure no one else took that title from him this week putting away three magnificent tries of his own. Once again the opposition could contain the Irish man and his runs just carved through their defence. With a couple of players unavailable through injury or absence this week the pack was slightly different and regular centre Jon Robinson made the move to flanker and seemed to relish in the aggressive work load being a forward places on you, using pace and power. It was from a maul close to the line however that he was rewarded for his hard work with a try which he also converted. Glossop had torn Duckingfield apart in the first half and went into the break a number of tries up and never really looking like conceding. After the break the domination of the game definitely seemed to subside and only some great defensive play against a multitude of Duckinfield penalties in the Glossop twenty two kept the visitors from scoring. Winger Ben Thommason felt disappointed with himself for missing a couple of difficult tackles in the first half and more than made up for them skilfully taking down the Duckingfield’s rotund prop who was almost literally twice the size of him, stopping a blind side Duckingfield move that could have easily led to a try. With Will Reddington on the bench even after his hat trick in the previous week Ben knew that the wingers being subbed at some point was inevitable and with the game being very much a tight forward driven one it meant if a winger was going to score he would have to really make it happen himself. Through his tenacity to score before the inevitable substitution Thomasson chased down what seemed an impossible ball and his incredible pace took him passed his opposite man and over the line for a fantastic individual try. Glossop were still looking the better of the two teams but definitely struggled more in the second half when it came to the cutting edge. It was a comfortable win for the team but the score should and could have been far greater if the chances had been taken. Special praise needs to be given to Alderdyce whose performance throughout was spectacular and running in for his third try it almost seemed if he wanted to be tackled the way he ran back towards the defenders just to side step them once more. It was a game he dictated and while he was on the pitch the was never a chance of Glossop losing this one.
Duckingfield had fairly heavily beaten Glossop’s main rivals Oldham in the previous week and together with this result have put Glossop in a great position to claim second place and promotion in the league. With Oldham facing a tough trip to Trafford MV’s next week Glossop look like they could definitely hit a promotion spot in the very near future.
Team Sheet
1.Swift(c) 2.Williamson 3.Marshall 4.Deacon 5.Wilson 6.Marsden 7.Robinson 8.Littlewood 9.Alderdyce 10.Whiston 11.Thomasson 12.Parker 13.Openshaw 14.Hughes 15.Howarth.
Subs
16.Rothery 17.Reddington 18.Ford Snr 19.Thomas