Hoppers jump off foot of table after crucial victory
PRESTON moved off the bottom of National League Two North after securing a vital win over Leicester Lions.
It took the hosts 17 minutes to get on the scoresheet, with Lewis Allen slotting a penalty.
Lions then started to come into the game, the clever kicking of James Grayson gave them a strong field position.
But Hoppers soon
But Hoppers scored their second try against the run of play.
Niall Crosley received the ball on the Lions tenmetre line, and freed up space for himself by stepping two attempted tacklers, and using his pace to race into the corner for quelled that threat, and another Allen penalty doubled Hoppers’ lead.
On the stroke of halftime, they bagged their first try through Cory Logan.
The No. 8 picked up from the base of a five-metre scrum to dot down and left Allen with a simple conversion, giving Hoppers a 13-0 advantage going into the break.
Lions came firing out of the blocks for the second period, forcing Hoppers deep into their own 22 and played with plenty of intent.
The result ended a threegame losing streak for Hoppers, while their Leicestershire opponents left Lightfoot Green pointless.
Hoppers’ head coach Garth Dew reflected: “The build up to this game was important in terms of the lads’ attitude, and that was evident in our pack. The scrum was great which made a huge difference as the game was probably won at scrum time.
“Our attitude was outstanding compared to previous weeks and we made far less handling errors despite the tricky conditions, and cutting out those errors and conceding less penalties means you’ll win games.”
Contrastingly, Lions head coach Andy Key said: “Credit to Hopper’s forwards, they put in a great shift and made it hard for us to get going. It’s disappointing to come away with nothing, but we were sloppy today and gave away too many penalties and dropped balls we shouldn’t have when we were in promising positions.”
Hoppers started the match as they finished last week against fellow Midlands opposition South Leicester, playing with plenty of positivity and carving out some nice passages of offloading rugby.
a very well-taken score, with Allen’s conversion drifting narrowly wide.
A third Allen penalty after 50 minutes gave the hosts’ a 21-0 advantage going into the final half hour. Lions threw the kitchen sink at Hoppers, and they bagged a deserved try on 68 minutes. Grayson fed Oliver Tapscott with a lovely delayed pass, and the forward touched down out wide to set up a tense final ten minutes.
But Hoppers defended resolutely for an important win in their relegation battle.