Great Team Performance In Close Game

Following on from a very good away performance to Keswick, Fleetwood 2's looked to continue their momentum in their search for that elusive first win. Things hit some early speed bumps when Australian Center Hayden Heilbronn was stuck with last minute work commitments and young Conor Rothery arrived late for the warm up.

This meant that the starting team needed a reshuffle and a call up for Ewan Beavers from the 3rd team.

The game had a bit of a cagey start to it with both teams making simple mistakes, knocking the ball on and in Fleetwood's case regularly losing their own line out. 'Fleet's usually strong scrum was tested early on by a very large West Park pack, with both sets of forwards eagerly contesting the set piece to gain any shred of dominance.

As the game progressed, both teams started getting their act together, creating the phases and making worthwhile attacks into the oppositions' halves. Unfortunately, West Park were the first to strike, spotting an overlap to score out wide. Conversion missed. 0-5

Spurred on from this, 'Fleet clawed their way up the pitch eventually winning a penalty. The home side elected to kick the penalty and gain an deserved 3 points. Kicked by Pearce. 3-5

From the restart, 'Fleet once again made their way up the pitch and were awarded a penalty again. With the mark being slightly out of range, the kick for touch was called. From the resulting line out, the away side defended their lead fiercely. The forwards all tried to barge themselves over the white line. When they were not successful, the ball was shipped out to the backs so that they could have a crack from deep. The away line held firm as white line fever engulfed the home men. Phase after phase the St Helen's men held their line until young Flanker Ryan Hargreaves found a gap to score. Conversion missed. 8-5

Half Time: 8 v 5

This was an alien situation this season for Fleetwood, they were winning a game at half time. The message was simple, up the effort and try to kill the game off early in the second half.

The opportunity presented itself early on when the away Fly Half got himself sent to the bin for a team high tackle penalty. Unfortunately, this just seemed to spur West Park on as they marched up the field. Some illegal playing on the floor by an away player, which was missed by the official, led to a converted score. 8-12

The game went into a bit of a stalemate with both sides trying to strike the killing blow. It was West Park though who spotted the gap in the defence to score. Conversion missed. 8-17

In the dying moments of the game, West Park's 10 had a moment of inspiration as he spotted a gap in the defence to dance through to score. Conversion scored. 8-24

Full Time: 8 v 24

Scorers

Tries: Hargreaves
Penalties: Pearce

This continues to be a massive improvement by a team growing in confidence playing in a tough league with an immense effort coming from every one who played.

This is a good sign of things to come, and with the returning Chris Travis coming back to the club to take over the reigns of 2nd team manager in two weeks time, exciting times are ahead for the second string. Chris was very influential to some of the older members of the squad who he helped transfer from playing Junior to Senior rugby and helped develop their game.

Man of the Match

As previously stated, everyone put in a cracking shift and could be in the conversation for the award this week. There were 4 standouts in particular this week, firstly Joe Crompton, who continued his budding form and put in a strong performance, despite mentioning just before kick off that he had "hurt his arm" in training. This hurt arm now appears to be a broken elbow, meaning he will miss several weeks of action. Secondly, his colt team mate Ryan Hargreaves who took his try well and is flourishing well now that he is back in his natural position.

The next two lads both had awesome games. Being unable to separate them, they will both receive this week's award. The first recipient was the returning from injury Josh Pearce, who controlled the game well at 10 and was forced into making big tackles and to make a nuisance of himself at the breakdown. The other lad was the also returning Henry Stelfox who played in an unfamiliar position, but played his normal game, making plenty of hard yards, tackles and strong at breakdown.

The Weekly Sam Pook Report

Sam had a solid, but not spectacular game, he is better than this. Needs to work on his line outs when out at sea. The team hasn't missed his "banter". 6/10.

Next Week

Fleetwood are back on the road again, as they make the trip to Greater Manchester to play Aldwinians. If you are interested in playing, please let us know asap. Please can you all make the effort to get training as well, this will help with match preparation.

Squad: 15. Hearne; 14. Hall; 13. Crompton; 12. Beavers; 11. Bowker; 10. Pearce; 9. Macauley; 1. O'Hara; 2. Pook; 3. Foden; 4. Gregson; 5. Jeffrey; 6. Barnes; 7. Hargreaves; 8. Stelfox; 16. Wood; 17. Jackson; 18. Rothery.