Northwich win sees Loo strengthen promotion push
FIRWOOD Waterloo kept their unbeaten home record intact with a 27-14 home win against fellow promotion hopefuls Northwich.
Going into the game it was Waterloo in third place against Northwich in second with the hosts knowing a home win would be vital in such a tight race for the play-offs.
‘Loo lost their last game the week before and the omens at the start of this game did not look good as they found themselves on the back foot early doors.
Northwich took advantage scoring the first try of the game as they kicked the ball forward into space allowing their player to pounce. They added the conversion.
The visitors then followed this up with a second try soon after to pile misery on the home fans and again added the conversion to make the score 14-0 to the away side.
Loo did respond and started to get the ball forward more but poor passing was letting them down. Alex Ward was a standout player producing two great runs to trouble the Northwich defence.
The home side did get their reward through Jacob Allen as Northwich were caught short out wide allowing Allen to pick up the ball and run half the length of the pitch to score.
‘Loo then kept up their momentum and just before half time added another try this time from Kurt Riley, who continues to impress, after the ball broke from the scrum allowing him to pick up and power past the Northwich defence.
In the driving wind the conversion was missed and the half time score was Firwood Waterloo 10 Northwich 14.
The second half saw ‘Loo make a strong start again and early on they scored their third try of the game through Jake Hawkins with Darragh O’Brien kicking the conversion, putting the home side ahead for the first time in the match.
Northwich did respond though and the game became very even with neither side being able to carve out an opportunity.
Northwich kept giving away penalties and in the end ‘Loo punished them for this with O’Brien taking the three to make the score 20-14. This set up a nervy final ten minutes at the Memorial Ground with Northwich throwing everything at their hosts.
However, the boys in myrtle managed the game very well and relieved the tension of the supporters with O’Brien scoring the fourth and final try of the game for the bonus point, catching Northwich out as they pushed players forward.
The game ended Firwood Waterloo 27 Northwich 14.
After the match coach
Stuart Turner says once his team got going the result was never in doubt.
“When you are playing a team like this you expect to be under pressure. We conceded a couple of unusual tries but then we got into the game and had a couple of opportunities in the first half that were really tight.
“We scored a few then I really never had a doubt, although they are always hard to break down. Northwich always work hard, they took a lot of injuries but still gave us a tough game. It’s all in our hands really, if we keep winning we should make the play-offs, we’ve got some tough games but I’m confident.”
The result also means Loo are still unbeaten at home this season and captain Jack Weare commented: “We go out knowing that we are solid at home and we can take anyone on, top of the league, bottom of the league.
“Whereas last year we would have lost games like that because of game management, bit of nerves too in certain situations but we have learnt from last year and improved.”
The result moves Firwood Waterloo back up to second five points behind top of the league Burnage. Their next game is away at Altrincham on February 29.