Moor avenge Toc defeat at Green Lane

HEATON Moor avenged their home defeat at Green Lane in November with victory in the reverse fixture.

The opening exchanges were close with the sides exchanging penalties, and the first real scoring opportunity went to the home side who spurned the chance by knocking on with the line begging.

From the resulting scrum the Moor forwards made their way upfield and after getting into the Toc half, Moor back row Jimmy Hine hit the line at pace where he was then taken by a superb tackle from Toc player Johnny Nash – which harshly resulted in a penalty to Moor and almost a yellow card for Nash!

From the resulting penalty, Moor kicked for touch and and from the lineout No 8 Ben Jones marauded his way over for a try,

Pat Chatterton, making his debut at outside half, then converted from the touchline to see Moor go into the break 10-3 in front.

The second half saw the welcome return of prop Dan Durber and he made his 22 stone presence felt as he set the platform with a couple of powerful carries to put Heaton Moor very much in the box seat in the early part of the second half.

Moor were playing with confidence and releasing the backs at the right time – however, excellent covering from the Toc backs saw the visitors return to their more likely option of scoring, which was to blast away at the Toc line through the pack.

After a series of pick and drives close to the line, tight head Sam Ireland powered over for a classic forwards try that was again converted by Chatterton to see Moor into a 17-3 lead.

The game now entered a phase where both teams largely cancelled each other out with dropped passes and poor line out options where for a while it looked as if both hookers were deliberately trying to hit the opposition jumpers rather than their own man.

With the game approaching the hour mark, Toc finally got over the line themselves after a scrappy line out saw them win possession where they moved the ball left to score ten metres in from the touchline which saw the conversion missed to restrict Moor’s lead to nine points.

From the restart Moor made their way up field where wing David Adebo’s footwork proved too much for his opposite man as he was hit with a high shot approximately three feet from the ground, but with the ref playing advantage Moor forwards Jones and Durber battered their way to the line only for them to be held up short, allowing Chatterton to extend the lead with an easy three points from bang in front.

Moor at this stage were looking comfortable as both sides again cancelled each other out – that was until the second best tackle of the day from Moor skipper Jones who hit his man hard and fair and safely – only for the ref to reach for his pocket and brandish his first yellow card, which was extremely harsh.

With Jones out of the equation, Toc found the space out wide to pull a score back with the last play of the match with the conversion again missed.

All in all a great result for Moor and some consolation for the Green Lane defeat.