Whether it be the first time in almost six years or 80th time lucky, the away win against Bowdon on 22nd November 2014 was well worth the wait. With Matthew Beasley poaching in the 77th minute to earn a deserved bonus point victory. It was an exciting game with the lead changing hands on several occasions with both sides contributing to a high quality spectacle.

After an early penalty, Bowdon scored the game's first try from a well worked strike close to the halfway line moving them into a 10-3 lead after only 10 minutes played. With the pressure building on the visitors they were forced to defend a lineout 10 metres out from their own line. The ball broke loose from the ensuing lineout and was collected by Manchester Number 8 Luke Tyrrell who raced away from 90m leaving all in his chase to score close to the posts, duly converted by centre Doug Day to bring the score back to 10-7.

With a foothold in the game established, Manchester's confidence began to grow and they soon levelled through the boot of Day following a scrum penalty where Manchester were beginning to get the advantage. Bowdon however responded, kicking well to establish good field position and were rewarded with a score in the right corner to move into 15-10 lead.

What followed was a further period of Manchester pressure, a driving maul was illegally brought down close to the home side's line and playing with the advantage. Nuttall & Day combined well with the centre driving over close to the posts before getting up to convert his own score to move Manchester into a 15-17 half-time lead.

Much like the first, the second half ebbed and flowed with Manchester striking first through a second Day penalty before Bowdon responded with their third and final try of the game. After exposing a mis-match between a centre and prop in midfield, Bowdon moved the ball wide where the winger finished well from 30m cutting inside to score under the posts which was converted to move the hosts back into a 22-20 lead.

Manchester pressed hard from the restart but Bowdon held firm in defence and further extended their lead with a long range penalty after a ruck infringement to move into a 25-20 ahead.

There was an opportunity for the home side to extend the lead further from another long-range penalty but the kick fell short and wide before being cleared by the visitors whose dominance at the scrum enabled them to kick deep into the opposition half. After a series of forward drives sucked in the home defence close to their own line Manchester moved the ball wide to left-wing Matt Davies who scored untouched in the corner, Day's conversion drifted wide to leave the scores tied at 25-25 with less than ten minutes to play.

Bowdon were quickly offered a chance to move into the lead following another ruck infringement, and the resulting penalty kick was well converted from 40metres (28-25) meaning that the visitors needed to score at least a try to win the game with the clock quickly ticking away. With Manchester applying further pressure to the Bowdon scrum the number 8 picked up and was met with a hard tackle from blindside flanker Alex Coyne which dislodged the ball allowing young scrum-half Matt Beasley to hack through and beat the covering defenders to score.

Day's conversion again drifted wide and with only 2 minutes to play trailing by only two points there remained opportunity for Bowdon to snatch victory. The home side regained the ball from the resulting kick-off and after moving through a number of phases they lost control of the ball which brought the game to a close and with it ended Manchester's away day jinx.