Blues bounce back in style
MACCLESFIELD bounced back to winning ways as they put the disappointment of defeat last time out behind them with victory at South Leicester.
The home side had won only three of their last 10 games but had suffered just one defeat on their own turf, while the Blues went into the game having been beaten at Sheffield Tigers last time out, their home derby against Sale having been called off last week.
The Blues won the last meeting between these teams back at Priory Park in one of only three wins Macclesfield enjoyed in their first 12 games.
Both teams appeared to have injury concerns with regular number 8 Joe Collingham stepping in to the second row for the home side who appeared to pick a big side.
The Blues were forced into a number of changes but a positive being a large amount of energy in their selection with the likes of Phil Laing, Matt Thorp and Sam Broster in the centre.
The home side started the better, turning over the kick off reception maul and after a number of phases their pacy left winger Myles Bean stepped two defenders to score after two minutes.
The Blues struck back immediately, with home side indiscipline allowing them up field with penalties’ and captain for the day Dave Marwick ordered the kick to the corner. After a powerful maul Billy Robinson powered over (7-7).
The visitors had to weather a brief storm as their hosts enjoyed possession and territory, but Leicester failed to find a way through the Blues’ defence and at times South’s kicking let them down.
Macclesfield managed to wrestle their way back into the middle of the park and both sides played out scrappy attacks, ending in poor kicks.
On 20 minutes, Myles Hall went under the posts after the architect Tom Morton found a gap and teed him up (7-14).
The small crowd were doing their part, being very vocal, some of the travelling support feeling the referee was not stepping in to tidy up a messy breakdown area with Green and White bodies working hard to slow down those in Blue.
The home side enjoyed a couple of ’22 entries that in truth were handed to them from Macc mistakes and indiscipline. The Blues didn’t have it all their own way at the scrum either, which the lads had to adapt to quickly.
Ricky Aley took three points when Lewis Barker was trapped on top of the carrier off his feet under the posts on 34 minutes (10-14), before a beautifully worked move saw Joe Palmer put in in the corner just before the break (10-19).
Almost immediately after the restart the Cheshire side made a fatal mistake in allowing Bean room to sprint and his lightening pace saw him go 70-odd metres on the kick return to score and make it a nail biting affair (17-19).
The game was opening up and although many of the good performances the Blues have had this season have been built on forward supremacy, it was the backs who were looking pretty silky, despite the centre pairing being pretty much a forced selection with Sam Broster and Lewis Barker after the late withdrawal of Tom Davenport.
Dan Lomax chipped and collected a kick return to move upfield, offloaded and the backs put the ball through hands until Lewis Barker had sight of the try line, backed himself on 49 minutes, only to be denied by a last ditch tackle in the corner by Jacob Ham.
South Leicester looked like they had cleared their lines from the resulting lineout maul having been awarded a penalty, only for Aley to miss touch.
From the resulting attack, the dynamic duo who are enjoying an exciting partnership, Morton and Lewis Barker, combined to put Laing through and from the next phase Allsop pulled in the defender to put Barker under the posts to extend the Blues’ lead to 26-17.
South Leicester weren’t giving up as moments later they broke through off a first phase move and the kick ahead by their 13 to the corner was just a fraction slow to bounce for the winger as Myles Hall got across to force him into touch.
The penalty count for both team was racked up as the referee looked to tighten things up and on 64 minutes this gave the Blues the chance to kick to the corner.
After another successful maul, Sam Moss emerged with the ball, making it 31-17 to the travelling team.
The home side butchered opportunities in the opposition ’22 before indiscipline let the men in Blue off the hook and from a first phase move, the pacy and powerful Sam Broster wriggled free to set up Lewis Barker to score again on 69 minutes to put the result beyond doubt at 17-38.
The home side went in search of the try bonus point and even though the Blues were put under trendendous pressure for the last 10 minutes and kept pinning themselves back with silly turnovers and penalties, they managed to repel multiple waves of attack limiting their hosts to one try.
This was probably the best all round performance of the season in truth, as the forwards and backs contributed to the win.
The backs were pacy and played with confident, skill and guile.
Barker, Morton and Broster in particularly were excellent and in the patched up pack, Phil Laing making his first start in a couple of years was tireless, Matt Thorp took his chance in the absence of captain Ryan Parkinson and the set piece operated very well to provide the platform for attacks with nine out of 13 first phase moves being executed to plan.
BluesTV gave Sam Broster the man of the match while the clubhouse post match gave it to Lewis Barker but really all 20 contributed immensely and this will give the Priory Park outfit the confidence to play with freedom in their must-win re-arranged encounter with struggler Sheffield, at home this coming weekend.