Leaders slip up
MACCLESFIELD sat top of the tree coming into this one and were brimming with confidence after a gutsy away win Carlisle last week, while Sandal had won their last 3 sitting 4thin the table.
The week leading up to the game had left the Priory Park pitch in quite a state and with the impending threat of Storm Denis, it was only thanks to a huge effort by the grounds staff that the game was going ahead, and the stodgy surface would prove to be quite a leveller.
Both sides had early opportunities in each other’s ’22, with the visitors unable to capitalise on their half break down the right wing and running back a couple of exit kicks, while the home side settled for 3 points from their foray into opposition territory, that came from Will Davies’s boot 8 minutes in, after the Macc pack had pushed Sandal off their own scrum.
The wet, windy and extremely muddy conditions made for a lot of handling errors and both teams struggled to put phases together; much of the action was played out between the ‘22s’ until a series of penalties allowed Sandal to put to the corner and drive over on 16 minutes through A. Thompson (3-5).
Unfortunately the Cheshire outfit compounded the error straight from the resulting restart as Tom Morton’s drop out skidded along the ground (due to the fact the ball just didn’t bounce as he struck it on one of the worst areas of the pitch), and the chasers were unable to prevent their opponents bursting through the middle with some impressive offloading to put Dec Thompson under the posts to lead (3-12 after 19 minutes).
Sandal began to edge the territory game through the benefit of the wind and a good kicking game that was difficult to deal with in the conditions, before Macc had a really good spell of territory, but kept coughing-the-ballup at key moments; the heavy ground was appearing to slow down the home side, that usually relies on a high paced game.
On 32 minutes Morton started his team’s best sustained period of play running back a kick reception, the forwards built the phases before Harry Oliver broke down the right to set up birthday boy Dan Lomax to score in the corner, the tackle on him as he went over the line meant the try was upgraded to a Penalty try putting Macc back in the game 10-12.
Caption: Dan Lomax on his way to the line
However Sandal had other ideas and replied with a try from winger Ellar who was put into space, afterthe restart was dropped and his pack laid the platform from the resulting scrum, a pack that were growing into the game and getting the upper hand at the contact area.
The visitors took a 19-10 lead into the break. The away fans were vocal, led by their coaches visible reactions on the bench, while the home side appeared frustrated with their side’s handling errors as much as anything else, but with the wind at their backs in the second half there was no sense of panic.
The home side looked to put territorial pressure on their visitors, immediately in the second half, but the Sandal managed to find a way out each time, before Macc were able to wrestle back the initiative enjoying a long spell in the red zone. Unfortunately the men in blue came away empty handed as the Yorkshire side held firm in defence.
Macc looked again to up the tempo and energy but were not managing the conditions well as quick taps were dropped and basic passes were going to ground, perhaps