Successful year closes in disappointment
THE senior Colts travelled to Southport on Friday night for a game under floodlights, their last of 2018.
It proved a fruitless journey with the home side very impressive, ending a successful calendar year on a disappointing note. It only took the hosts three minutes to stamp their authority when a missed tackle in midfield resulted in a runaway try under the posts, successfully converted.
Although Moor came to the battle after this with a tenacious display of tackling, particularly from flanker Tom Eaton and Dylan Starkie.
The next twenty minutes saw two very evenly matched teams thunder at each other, some great hits.
But five minutes before the break, history repeated itself, another breakaway try and conversion giving Southport a commanding fourteen-point lead.
Credit to Moor, they hit back on the stroke of half-time, a brilliant passing move resulted in Dylan Starkie sliding in to score a fantastic try.
So the lead was down to nine points at the break.
Unfortunately, the second half followed the same pattern as the first, Moor committing to tackles at every opportunity but just not being clinical enough in possession.
Southport on the other hand, looked dangerous every time they encroached into Moor territory but the visitors held firm with some colossal tackles although the home team scored within a minute of the restart, a harsh lesson in both halves of being alert from the off.
Again, like the first period, it was a very even contest and in exact symmetry, Southport eventually punched a hole in the stubborn visitors’ defence with only minutes remaining.
It looked a harsh score line on Moor and was only slightly glossed over when the impressive Dylan Starkie scored near the end, a beautifully weighted kick pass by Joe Kilbride putting him in.
It couldn’t really be argued though that Southport clearly deserved the victory and Moor were left to lick their wounds over the Christmas period before renewing hostilities with Altrincham Kersal in early January.