Blackburn blitzed

The Blackburn players had already conceded that it was to be a long afternoon. Good work from Larkin led to a try by Paul Bamber soon followed by a typical break by Coultas, the move finished off by Dan Orwin. Good work from Mike Wilson at the breakdown led to a break by Scott Richardson with winger Bobby Jones finishing off the move. The unusually aggressive Andy Holme then took a short line-out to set up an attack which saw the ball worked upfield for Toby Holder-Williams to score under the posts. The game had now become very one-sided and Fleetwood appeared to be able to score at will. Some indiscipline led to Matt Larkin being confined to the sin-bin for 10 mins, the same player being embarrassed by his actions. Fleetwood continued to press and Bobby Jones crossed for his second try after a poor defensive clearance kick. The ever-impressive Danny Maher took a quick tap penalty to dash over for a well-deserved try before Zac Coultas added another to his tally. The Maher family made it a day to remember with Danny crossing for his second before brother Marc turned up on the wing to complete a total rout of 69-0 at half-time with conversions coming from Marc Maher, Scott Richardson, Zack Coultas and Paul Bamber.
The game died a death in the 2nd half with deteriorating weather conditions and lack of motivation by both teams. Blackburn battled hard but were always playing for pride. 2 late tries came from Zack Coultas and Joe(Dobby) Birks who came off the bench in the last 10 minutes.
Danny Maher was dominant in the forwards as were the unfamiliar front-row of Larkin, Barkworth and hooker Chris Lilley who was impressive throughout The backs combined well and always looked dangerous with the ball in hand, Paul Bamber always looking for the break and opportunity to release his centres and wingers. Michael Dewhirst was introduced for the final quarter to add weight to the defence to ensure that Fleetwood kept a clean sheet along with team coach/manager Chris Travis who provided a lightweight but otherwise identical replacement for Mike Barkworth. All players deserve mention in another clinical performance. Pete Benny put his physicality to good use whilst George Seymour was a constant nuisance around the pitch. The backs always looked threatening especially Zac when he focused on the game!

On a day when the opponents did not like looking like potential 1st teamers most of the home side looked like they were ready to move up to the next level.

Report by Ian Cameron