Cleckheaton 15 - 33 Morley

Cleck were given the use of the strong breeze for the first half but started the game in the worst way as the kick –off didn’t go 10 metres with the result that they were straight on the defensive. Morley didn’t need any encouragement to attack and spread the ball on both flanks to stretch the home side’s defence to the limit. They eventually found the limit in the fourth minute as centre Charlie Spon –Smith found a gap to score half-way out ,Simon Bradshaw missed the conversion.
From the restart the visitors again applied pressure but Cleck this time responded positively ,Richard Piper ,who went on to have a storming afternoon, snaffled the ball from a Morley ruck and took play deep into the Morley half ,support was with him and the home side began to dictate the play with some good ball retention. With the Cleck back three of Hayden,Masserella and Ashworth functioning well it was Morley’s turn to be stretched .Thirteen minutes into the game Ross Hayden eluded his marker and sent Mitch Ashworth in at the right hand corner ,Iain Gordon’s conversion attempt agonisingly just missing the far post.
Cleck were now in the ascendancy and camped in the Morley half ,however Morley  do not have the best defensive record in the League for nothing and Cleck found the getting over the gain line difficult, even the usually effective charges of Ryan Piercy were stopped at source.
When Morley got possession ,usually by forcing a turnover ,they were quick to move the ball wide and looked dangerous but the Cleck scramble defence ,with Pete Murphy to the fore ,held firm until just before half –time when Morley broke out into the Cleck twenty two and Bradshaw kicked a penalty from in front of the posts.
With breeze at their backs Morley restarted the game by kicking deep into the home sides half and stayed there.After five minutes they were awarded a penalty but failed to take advantage of the points but minutes later Mark Chester dropped a goal to extend their lead to six points. Now it was all Morley and strangely the Cleck scrum was creaking. From what had earlier been assured  scrum possession Cleck were sometimes having to back peddle . Scrum half Dom Castle was having to get the ball away under pressure ,and whilst number eight Matt Burrows strove manfully to rectify the situation ,eventually Morley forced an error at the base of the scrum and quick hands put Karl Bradshaw in at the posts. The conversion was successful and Cleck had a mountain to climb at 18 -5 down.
This they did and they worked their way back  into the  Morley half ,with fifteen minutes of the second half gone ,a catch and drive at the right hand corner was dotted down by Lance Hamilton and Cleck were back in the game, or so it seemed.
Almost immediately Bradshaw added to Morley’s lead with a wind assisted long range goal and Cleck hit the self-destruct button as Carl Mason was yellow carded for hands in a ruck .With Cleck down to fourteen men Morley exploited their numerical advantage almost immediately,when scrum half Sean Dadswell shot through a gap close to the scrum to score near the posts.
Game over, but not quite. Joe Masserella intercepted a floated Morley pass, took play to the halfway line and transferred to Ross Hayden who outpaced the defence to score in the corner.
With the score at 28 -15 and Mason due back on the field in a couple of minutes ,could Cleck salvage a bonus point ?–maybe.
However their fate was sealed when Richard Piper was also yellow carded, just as Mason was returning, so Cleck had to play out the final ten minutes one man light, paying a further   penalty when Morley earned their own bonus point with a push –over try, attributed to captain Craig Field, in the seventy fifth minute.
There was no further score although both sides contributed to a frantic last five minutes as they tried to add to their tally. A good game of rugby ,especially for the impartial observer ,although there weren’t many of those present at this most local of derbies.