Rossy rise after winning return
NORTHERN PREMIER MORLEY .......................... 12 ROSSENDALE................. 19 SHELDAN KEAY
ROSSENDALE RUFC finally returned to winning ways after they overcame Morley in a hardfought game at Scratcherd Lane.
It was closer than perhaps it should have been, with Morley pushing during the closing stages, but Rossendale held on to get the much-needed win after three straight defeats.
The visitors were the first to score through a try from Jack Ward after good line out ball and some swift handling from Lewis Singleton, Louis Allen and Ryan McKibbin, who sent out the scoring pass.
A scrum on the ‘22’ then led to a deft pick up at the base by McKibbin, and with Joe Robinson, Allen and George Peel combining well, Curtis Strong was put away for the second, with Allen slotting the conversion.
Just before the interval Morley came into contention with a try from Darryl Griffiths to close the half with Rossendale 12-5 ahead.
In the second half although Rossendale created a number of chances, there was over anxiety to force the final pass when patience would perhaps have been the better option.
That mitigated against any further score but from good pressure and a penalty line out, Reece Tomkins finally forced his way over, and Allen was again on hand with the extras.
Rossendale looked as if they would score again ●● Jack Ward crossed the line for Rossendale’s opening try against Morley but a missed pass was intercepted allowing Andy Ellis to race away for the home side, and Mark Chester’s conversion guaranteed them the losing bonus point.
Morley tried to push forward late on but Rossendale had done enough to earn the victory and ensure they got their season back on track.
The victory has left them seventh in the Northern Premier table, having won five and lost five of their 10 games during the campaign so far.
They’ll now try to build on that win when they welcome Billingham to Marl Pits on Saturday. Billingham are in fifth position, with seven wins and three defeats to their name. Billingham head into the game on the back of a dominant 64-3 win at home to Kirkby Lonsdale.
Rossendale will be hoping to a similar performance to when they played Billingham at home last season, with that game finishing 17-11 to the hosts back in November 2016.
Rossendale went on to do the double over this weekend’s opponent, as they also picked up a narrow 13-12 win away in March. ALL good things come to an end they say and that is exactly what happened to Rossendale’s 100 per cent win record in the league on Saturday.
The Stags went into the game on the back of a good result the week before and were looking to make it seven wins from seven games, but in the end it wasn’t to be.
When the game started the home side had the early possession, looking to probe at the Rossendale back line with quite a lot of possession in the centre of the park, they just couldn’t find a way through the resolute backline and most attacks petered out into nothing with goalkeeper Matty Richmond rarely tested.
As the half progressed though Rossendale did start to threaten the Prestwich goal and always looked dangerous when they countered the home side.
On 32 minutes the stags thought they had took the lead when a corner from Craig Watts was headed goalward by Paul Hooper, the ball looked clearly over the line, but the referee waved play on.
Paul Hooper was providing most of the threats and was winning a lot of headers up front, it just needed Luke Simpson and Michael Robinson to get on the end of his quality flicks to give Rossendale a foothold in the game.
As half time approached Robinson went close and should really have scored with two gilt edged chances, he just couldn’t turn the ball into the net and some last ditch defending followed by an unorthodox attempt with the rebound meant at the break it was 0-0 with Rossendale looking the most dangerous.
Into the 2nd half and straight from the kick off, Watts hit a long ball behind the Prestwich right back who gathered up the ball, played it into midfield and the Prestwich midfielder was allowed to run free and unchallenged with the Rossendale midfield seemingly AWOL, as he got 25 yards from goal he unleashed probably their first and only shot on target in the whole match, which beat Richmond.
Rossendale did step it up a gear and threw everything they had bar the kitchen sink at Prestwich and had enough chances to win this game three times over with Prestwich barely touching the ball in the stags half after the goal.
Luke Simpson missed two really good chances, firstly he went through and had the option to either square to the free Michael Robinson, but chose to instead shoot but his shot was weak and didn’t cause any problems.
He then made a great run which was picked out by Tom Hartley at right back, but in the one on one situation he fluffed his lines and ballooned the ball high and wide.
Paul Hooper had a header form five yards out saved at point blank range and Matthew Kirkbright at centre half hit the bar with a shot from near the half way line, then forced a great save from the keeper when he teed himself up for an overhead bicycle kick which the keeper tipped over the bar.
You just knew it was going to be one of them games where you weren’t going to score and so it proved with the game ending 1-0.
Manager Steven Mainwaring said: “We are disappointed in the result, I can’t really moan about the effort from the boys there because they give it a real go then and didn’t give up.
“Sometimes we are a bit too nicey nicey, can we attack on the counter with a bit more pace and intent, can we hunt the ball back that bit quicker, I believe we can.”
Anthony Taylor added: “For me we’ve lacked composure in the final third today, I can’t fault the defence, any time they attacked the defence dealt with it, set pieces etc... we’ve been beaten by a cracking effort, but it feels like we’ve been robbed.
“You can’t always rely on a clean sheet, the front three have had more than enough chances to put the game to bed and they’ve not done it, simple as. Goals win you games, hopefully it’s an off day and Carl Lomax should be back this week after missing the last two matches.”
On Saturday Rossendale host Roach Dynamos who will be a tough test.
Kick off 2pm at Marl Pits sports centre.