Victory snatched away at Trafford
LITTLEBOROUGH recovered from a terrible start at Trafford MV and were unfortunate not to claim a win.
On a day of continuous rain, Boro travelled over to Trafford MV and while it took time for them to find their feet, they put on a quality rugby performance, to such a degree they were very unlucky not to have come away with the victory.
They were immediately put under pressure and after only two minutes went behind to the game’s first try.
And they went 12 points behind to a converted second try, all inside the opening the seven minutes.
But if Trafford were anticipating a comfortable afternoon, they were quickly put right as Boro started to get into the match, a good forward run with the ball in hand by Henry Ashworth showing their intent.
Boro did have luck on their side when the home team passed up the opportunity to extend their lead when missed a penalty.
And Trafford were almost in again when Boro made a strong run upfield, working their way well over half way only for the nmove to break down. The host team kicked the ball back into Boro’s territory and it took some good recovery work from fullback Chris Park to recover the situation.
Another fine run from wing forward Mathew Goldthorpe was followed by a strong advance by second row Henry Ashworth as Boro’s influence on the game grew.
The bad weather meant plenty of out-of-hand kicking to gain territory advantage, captain Andy Walton performing that role to good effect for Boro.
Sam Dickinson and Jake Castree both did well to quell Trafford attacks with strong tackling but with only 15 minutes left of the first half, Dickinson left the field with an injury and his place was taken by Stuart Irving.
Boro reacted well to that change and got themselves on the scoreboard.
The ball came into the hands of regular try scorer Goldthorpe for Boro’s first try which was well converted they by Nathan Coop, to make the score 12-7.
The game continued with a good kick to touch by Boro, five metres from the tryline after an attack by Trafford’s left winger broke down and led to a brilliant break with ball in hand by Goldthorpe.
This was followed with a well taken penalty by Nathan Coop for a further three points to Boro.
The visitors were on the attack again with a good kick which they reclaimed with a nice pick up by Walton and that was followed by a successful penalty kick from the home side, making it 15-10 at the end of the first half.
Nathan Ripley came on for Jack Whittles at the start of the second half and Boro made several good attacking plays with Walton on form with his penalty kicks to touch.
Strong play in the Trafford 25 metres area from Goldthorpe led to Boro’s second try of the day, this time from prop forward Mark Murgatroyd and again converted by Coop to put Boro ahead by two points.
Further excellent distance kicks to touch by Walton kept Boro on the front foot.
Another successful penalty from Coop gave Boro a further three points and what looked like their first win in months.
But disaster struck late on, the host team managing to obtain the ball and apply pressure which led to their third try and a share of the spoils.
Boro had all the pressure in the final moments but the win eluded them.