Wirral take Glossop's unbeaten home record

This was Wirral's first league visit to Glossop, who were playing in Yorkshire 1 last year and were defending an unbeaten home record this season. Wirral welcomed back Ali Childs following his trip to New Zealand, with Ian White moving to centre in place of the unavailable Adam Stevens. On the bench were Ryan Harvey, Dave Doneo and Adam Pierpoint, the latter having been brought in from the seconds.

The early pressure came from Glossop who were helped by two penalties against Wirral and after 10mins had their first penalty scoring opportunity but this was missed. It took time for Wirral to absorb this early pressure and impose their own brand of rugby and gain territory. Their first pressure on the Glossop line came from a line out but unfortunately the throw did not find its jumper allowing Glossop to recover, but with Wirral now enjoying more ball and territory they had the opportunity to take the lead on two occasions only for the kicks to be missed.

Whilst the game had changed round with Glossop rarely getting out of their half, credit must go to their defence for keeping out the thrusts from the Wirral backs and as half time approached it appeared that the first half was to remain scoreless, even with Wirral having the slight wind advantage. With only a few minutes of the half remaining there was a scrum some 50m out which Wirral won against the head, Ali Childs went blind, fed Phil Donaldson and onto Ali Baker who got tackled 5 metres from the line but a pop pass which was well taken by Ross Page, saw him dive over 5 m from the corner flag, the try was converted by Danny Harvey. 7-0

Immediately Wirral had another kickable penalty which was missed but from the 22 kick off, the Glossop second row barged into a Wirral forward, earning himself a yellow card. A quick penalty was taken by Ali Childs and a drive by Ross Page took play up to within 5m of the try line, the ball was released to Rob Pearl on the blind side and a pass to Sam Broadbent saw him use his big frame to dive over in the corner. The try was not converted and that was the first half. 12-0.

Within the first minute of the second half, Glossop were on the score sheet from a penalty for off side 12-3. Dave Doneo then came on for Paddy Pendergast, who had a neck injury following a collapsed scrum. Play was being dictated by kicking as Wirral were the only team able to make ground by passing the ball down the line and were unlucky not to increase the lead when good passing led to Ali Baker being held up some 5 m from the line. On clearing, Danny Harvey was sin binned for an innocuous tackle on a Glossop player, which enabled them to clear down field and gave them another penalty opportunity, which was again missed. They were at this stage able to keep play in the Wirral half and were looking to score by using the rolling maul technique, which resulted in them having a 5 m scrum, but Wirral wheeled and were able to clear.

Ali Childs went to take a quick free kick only to be tripped by a Glossop prop with the referee being an interested spectator and thus earned himself a 10 minute rest. With 15mins to go Adam Pierpoint came on for Stu Hughes at a time when Wirral were attacking the Glossop line but could not find a way through. A penalty was awarded to Wirral and whilst Glossop were re organising their defence a quickly taken penalty led to Dave Doneo scoring in the corner despite a number of Glossop players in close attendance, the conversion was missed, but this was to be the match winning score. 17-3

With 7 mins remaining Glossop applied more pressure through their forwards and the rolling maul technique and were rewarded with a try some 10 m from the touchline but again the kick was missed. 17-8. It had been a poor day for the kickers all round and the score could have had a different complexion if these opportunities had been taken. The final couple of minutes saw play in the Wirral; half but the defence which has been resolute all season held out and it is interesting to note that Glossop did not make one line break during the game.

The result meant that Glossop had lost their proud unbeaten home record, a feat difficult to achieve in this competitive league and now leave Wirral requiring two wins from their remaining 5 matches to clinch the league title. This was a hard earned victory and Glossop will provide strong opposition to those teams still to visit this picturesque ground set on the edge of the Peak District.

Next week Wirral play Vagabonds from the Isle of Man in their penultimate home league game.

Richard McNeil