Cleckheaton 13 – 17 Lymm

Cleckheaton's unbeaten home record in National 3 North fizzled away at the hands of a well-prepared Lymm side. A game lacking any real fire produced a fairly deadlocked first half with both sides creating pressure but ultimately succumbing to handling errors, which let their opposition off the hook. Uncharacteristically, Cleckheaton’s line-out was hit and miss with Lymm’s jumpers working hard to get in front of the Moorenders and disrupt one of the home teams’ renowned methods of attack. Scrums also came under pressure and it was clear that Lymm had done their homework on combatting Cleckheaton’s strengths. Rob Afoa Peterson showed some class to break the opposition down and Tom Hanson went close, catching Lymm off-side in the process, which lead to a Ross Hayden penalty goal. The 3 points on the 25 minute mark was the only score of the first half.

Cleckheaton’s 3-0 lead at the break didn’t last long into the second period. Within five minutes of the restart a kick deep down field bounced to the left hand corner of the pitch, wrong footing many of Cleckheaton's chasers who were heading to the right. Lymm's centre, Jack Ecclestone, fielded the ball and sprinted fully 80m up the touchline, stepping inside Cleckheaton’s scrambling defence before diving in at the corner. Winger Richard Halford converted the opportunist try to give Lymm a 7-3 lead. Cleckheaton tried to respond but could not really find top gear. The forwards made some headway and Ross Hayden found space on a couple of occasions but Cleckheaton were often too keen to kick the ball away with little advantage. Lymm's back line covered the ground well and always looked dangerous. This was typified by full-back Joe Knowles, who danced his way through three would-be defenders for Lymm's second try. Halford once again obliged with the extras. Lymm went further ahead when Halford added a penalty goal to give the visitors a 17 – 3 lead and leave Cleckheaton’s home record dangling by the finest of threads. Credit to the team, they did eventually hit their stride as Lymm tired with just 5 minutes left on the clock. Alex Dawson went on a barn-storming run and Rob Afoa Peterson went close, drawing foul play from the opposition. A quick tap penalty from Matt Piper nearly brought instant reward and when the ball was fed out to Lee Queeley the powerful wingman forced his way over. The conversion attempt from Mike Piper drifted agonizingly wide. From the re-start Cleckheaton applied the urgency and ruthlessness that had been missing for much of the game and Danny Vento barged his way over for a consolation try in the 80th minute. The conversion attempt, now of less significance, also sailed wide and the referee sounded time on the match and on Cleckheaton’s home record, leaving Lymm with the spoils and Cleckheaton with a solitary bonus point.

Cleckheaton seem to be experiencing the February blues where promotion is too far ahead but league safety is almost certainly assured. The team are probably feeling ‘comfortable’ in this league and perhaps that has led to a slight turn down in performance. But be assured, the players and coaching staff will have no intention of letting the season quietly fizzle out and will be looking forward to putting in the type of commanding performance which typified the first half of the season and which will be necessary to bring the points back from Burnage on Saturday.