Moor off the mark with first victory

MOOR welcomed Liverpool Collegiate to Green Lane last Saturday in what was a bottom-of-the-table clash, as both sides were without a league victory this season.

Moor’s previous games at home had all resulted in close results, with them ending up on the losing side and this game again proved to be a nail-biter, except that this time, they triumphed, but only just.

Early exchanges favoured the visitors who had most of the position and possession, but they never looked particularly threatening and were unable to break through the home side’s defence.

When Moor did have the ball, they also appeared as if they were not going to dominate the encounter, although for the first time this season their scrums and lineouts were far more solid, having welcomed back three forwards from injury and holidays.

As the half progressed, Moor gradually came into the game and were twice awarded penalties for their efforts close to their opponent’s try-line, and on each occasion elected to take a scrum, putting the opposition on the back-foot, which almost ended up with tries, but sound defence held up Moor’s attempts.

On the half-hour mark, the stalemate was finally broken, when from a scrum in the Collegiate 22, Moor recycled the ball first one way and then the other and it eventually found right-winger Asa Bottomley, making his First XV debut, who sped in to score out wide; the conversion being missed.

Moor continued to edge the game, but were unable to increase their lead and with injury-time being played at the interval, it was the visitors, against the run of play, who opened their account, when they managed to break-out and a long pass found their left-winger, who went over in the corner, followed by an excellent conversion from the touch-line, making the score 7-5 to Collegiate at the break.

The least said about the second half, the better.

In terms of possession, it was Collegiate who had the lion’s share during the third quarter, but neither side looked as if they would trouble the scoreboard again.

To be fair to the players, there was now a heavy drizzle that made handling somewhat of a lottery and both teams were guilty of un-enforced errors.

It was one such error that led to the home side’s next score midway through the half, when an opposition player knocked on and the loose ball was picked up and passed along the Moor three-quarter line, for Bottomley to race in for his second try, which was again unconverted.

Shortly before the final whistle, Moor were awarded a penalty, which was kicked by scrum-half Ben Haspell to increase their lead and was to prove fortuitous.

As in the first half, Collegiate had the final say, when in injury time they again managed to score their second try, again in the corner and with Moor players and supporters holding their breath, the conversion fell just wide, enabling Moor to register their first league win of the season, 13-12.

All in all, this was a forgettable encounter and highlighted why both sides had been holding up the table, but for Moor, as they say, a win’s a win, however achieved.

Moor have no fixture next week, but are away at Widnes on October 26th, kick off 3pm.