Glossop started the game purposefully and when a chance to escape the pressure in the 22 was knocked on, an attacking scrum was all that the home side needed to secure their first try within three minutes (5-0).

Manchester reacted positively and were pressing for a score with the referee playing advantage when play was stopped for a Glossop injury. Fortunately there was a quick recovery and the game was restarted with a simple penalty by Seb Lingwood to make it 5-3.

Glossop were back on the attack and this time they knocked on close to the Manchester to surely give a chance to clear. The scrum was won against the head with a good hook however so that there was no defence to stop a second try making it 10-3 with less than a quarter of an hour played.

Glossop were now well in control when a foul mouthed questioning of a match official resulted in a straight red card that gave Manchester a numerical advantage for the next hour. This soon resulted in an easy penalty being rejected for a kick to touch, the enterprise rewarded by a try for Gareth Bridgman who ran a perfect line to split the defence open and score under the posts. Somehow the conversion found the upright when it was much easier to score, but at 10-8, Manchester now started to look good.

The half finished with Manchester sneaking the lead when an elusive Will Chance had the defence grabbing at his shirt but not enough to hold him back for a try (with a simple conversion again squandered despite a change of kicker), to close the period at 10-13 to Manchester.

At this point, Glossop seemed in disarray and looked a very unhappy bunch with Manchester immediately on the attack looking likely to stretch their first half lead. Against the run of play however and ten minutes in, a loose ball was seized on and with Manchester in attack mode, the defence simply wasn’t there to stop a score under the posts, converted to 17-13.

This took the steam out of Manchester’s efforts, not helped by the restart being kicked straight into touch, giving Glossop the attacking initiative. They certainly took this and minutes later they were 24-13 up with their tails up, their undermanning problems now forgotten and not at all obvious on the pitch.

Any efforts by Manchester to improve their field position were frequently wasted by poor handling and turnovers, which gave Glossop even more confidence as the frustration began to show in the Manchester play and body language. When a long kick up field was not dealt with and the lineout conceded as a result, Glossop gratefully secured possession and advanced towards the Manchester line to score a try under the posts again, effectively closing the game out at 31-13 with ten minutes remaining.

The self inflicted misery was immediately compounded with another restart being kicked straight out, but to Manchester’s credit the position was recovered this time. Unfortunately wrong options were taken in attack with the line beckoning (and then repeated) so that chances to narrow the gap were lost. The last few minutes passed without a change in the score, 14-man Glossop comfortably the winners in the end despite a wobble ten minutes either side of half time.