Match Report
National League 3 North
saturday november 12th 2011
Lymm 32 V morley 20
a workman-like win for lymm!
Lymm changed their tactics this week. Instead of gifting points to the opposition in the first 20 minutes of the match as they did last week, away at Penrith, they decided to show Morley their attacking potential from the whistle and then gave them 20 points to give them hope of bringing off what would have been a surprise win. Lymm do not play well when they are favourites, as they were in this game, given their respective league positions: 4th from top versus 4th from bottom. Once again Lymm did enough to win, but once again the players, spectators and Head Coach, Kinsey, were disappointed in their overall performance. This is a match that Lymm could and arguably should have won by a much wider margin. Being disappointed with another five point win that consolidates their 4th place in the league is a measure of the progress that this side has made over the last couple of years. It should be remembered that Morley, who were making their first visit to Beechwood in 133 years, have been accustomed to playing at a higher level, having been relegated from National League 2 North last year. So, by any measure, this was a good win.
It was good to see Lymm’s talented backs in full flow early on in this match. Dave Williamson, playing at centre, was the first to show his pace and attacking flare by slicing through Morley’s defence on 5 minutes. His chip forward was gathered by the Morley full-back, who was immediately placed under pressure that led to a 5 metre scrum, from which no defence in the league would have stopped No. 8 Adam Bray from driving over for his first of two tries. Luke Emmitt converted to make it: Lymm 7 – Morley 0.
It was winger Jack Johnstone’s turn to break clean through Morley’s central defence on 8 minutes to set up fellow winger Matthew Barnes-Smith for the first of his two tries. The same combination nearly conjured up another try on 12 minutes, but Barnes-Smith was held up just short of the Morley line. He only had to wait another 5 minutes before full-back Joe Knowles took his turn to burst through the Morley line to link with Dave Williamson, who put Matthew in for his second try in the corner.
Matthew, Joe and Jack were enjoying themselves, but over-exuberance on 13 minutes resulted in Jack being isolated in possession and to Morley’s credit they capitalised on the opportunity presented to them to score a well executed try. Their winger, Bradshaw, who kicked well all afternoon, slotted over the conversion and a penalty on 21 minutes to bring the score to: Lymm 17 – Morley 10.
Luke Emmitt, who can normally be relied upon to kick equally as well, had missed his conversions, but took his turn to show his attacking power by bull-dozing 35 metres up the pitch on 28 minutes. Lymm stole the ball from the Morley line-out, prop Scott Harrison drove forward and set up Adam Bray for his second try to push the score on to: Lymm 22 – Morley 10.
The self-destruct button was pushed once more, just before half-time, when a kick straight to the Morley winger saw him chip the ball forward for it to be gathered at pace by his stand-off, who raced over for a confidence boosting try. The conversion was never in doubt. This meant that Morley finished the first half on the front foot with the score: Lymm 22 – Morley 20. Lymm, who earlier on appeared able to score tries at will, found themselves going in at half time knowing that they needed to tighten up their play in the second half. It was a good job that the inspirational forward leader and task master Alex Bennett was absent, as he would have been reaching for an industrial hair-dryer to straighten out his team at the break.
Lymm did tighten up their play in the second half. The forwards continued to dominate the scrums, with Alex Raey providing much needed weight and presence in the second row. Hooker, Pete Allen, showed his skill and class in the set, loose and in his throwing in at the line-out, which allowed Lymm to retain their possession at line-outs. Sion Williams and Matt Connelly jumped well in the line and worked tirelessly all afternoon to put the Morley pack under pressure. It was this pressure that resulted in one of the Morley forwards being yellow-carded for handling on the ground. Shortly thereafter Lymm scored the try that was always going to come. Adam Bray drove forward from a 5 metre scrum and set up scrum-half Tom Baker to go over on 56 minutes. Emmitt converted this one to push the score to more comfortable 29 points to 20.
Lymm nearly scored two more tries through Jordan Widdrington and Pete Allen, before closing out the game on 76 minutes via another penalty, converted by Luke Emmitt. The final score was: Lymm 32 – Morley 20.
The next three matches will truly test Lymm’s credentials in this league. First up is top of the table Darlington at home, followed by matches against second in the league Chester and then Birkenhead Park.
Head Coach Kinsey is looking forward to next week: “We know we can score tries against any team in the league; we have tightened our defence, as shown by nilling our opponents in the second half in the last two matches and we are playing with greater maturity and resilience. We have achieved the targets we set for ourselves and will relish the challenge of competing with the best in this league.
Team: 15: Knowles 14: Barnes-Smith 13:Williamson 12; Emmitt 11: Johnstone 10: Roberts 9: Baker 8 Bray (A) 7: Ashall 6: Connelly 5: Williams 4: Raey 3: Widdrington 2: Allen 1: Harrison Replacements: Ashton, Fletcher, Millachip.