Travel happy Kirk get the better of struggling Ashton
FOLLOWING a run of good results, Ormskirk travelled to Ashton-under-Lyne in confident mood to face a team propping up the league and with no wins so far this season.
Although in a lowly position, Ashton were not about to present themselves as pushovers and the visitors had a tough afternoon before coming away with their third win on the trot.
Ormskirk began the game on the front foot, testing the home defences through forwards and backline movements.
A penalty for not releasing at the ruck gave Ormskirk a catch and drive opportunity from the resulting line out.
Held up 15 metres out the ball was moved inside for centre Michael Knowles to take on the crash, fly half Aaron Booth, who was in close support, received a pop pass, putting him through to open the score, converted by himself.
This early score seemed a forerunner of things to come, but as last week against Bury, Ormskirk became masters of their own misfortune with a series of handling errors and penalties given away.
This allowed Ashton the impetus to move into the Ormskirk 22 and camp themselves there for a period of time.
The visitors continued to get on the wrong side of the referee and were lucky to avoid a yellow card for continuous infringements at the breakdown situation.
A good clearing kick into the home half seemingly relieved the pressure.
The poor kick chase allowed the speedy Ashton full back room to run the ball back, aided by sloppy tackling he linked up with a forward in support who scored under the posts.
The 7-7 scoreline at half time was a reasonable reflection of the play by the two teams.
As the second half developed, mistakes continued to dog Ormskirk’s attacking efforts.
Poor passes, dropped ball and knock ons allowed Ashton to think that they could obtain a result from the game.
Finally Ormskirk seemed to cut out their mistakes and pressure forced an Ashton penalty misdemeanour at the ruck which Aaron Booth slotted over from 40 metres, taking a 7-10 lead.
Being over eager to get further on top of the game, Ormskirk moved the ball down the backline just outside their own twenty two, a dropped pass allowed the Ashton centre to hack the ball on and aided by a favourable bounce put his side ahead 12-7 with the unconverted try.
The home side jubilation at taking the lead was soon cut short by Aaron Booth putting over another long penalty and this at last signalled the start of Ormskirk playing the game as they wanted to, on the front foot without mistakes, not allowing the opposition any hope.
Right winger Dave Webster put his name on the score sheet, finishing off a move that had begun on the left hand side of the pitch following a period of good linked, multiple phased play. A penalty for an Ashton high tackle was taken quickly and moved slickly down the line, finding Webster in space to score out wide.
The score moved out to 12-21 with another Booth penalty and Ormskirk for the final 20 minutes took control of the game.
A series of pick and goes by the forwards and clean hands by the backs kept Ashton’s concentration on defensive duties.
Keeping the ball alive and going through the phases created holes in the home defence which was capitalised on when back row Luke Millington went over for the third try, again Booth converting.
A bonus point fourth try failed to materialise as the final whistle brought proceedings to a close at 12-28.
A win on the road is always good but it is a bonus when Ormskirk had not played to their full potential.
This they will need to achieve when they welcome second placed Burnley to Green Lane on December 10, an opportunity to erase the memories of their last meeting.