Under 13s v Preston - Lancashire Cup SF

Semi Finals are always tense affairs and this game against a strong Grasshoppers side was nervy and certainly not for the faint hearted.

We welcomed new boy Andy Fyfe (no nickname yet but it won’t take me long, don’t worry) for his debut and what a fabulous game he had; this was a tough game against a big, strong Preston pack and hats off to all the forwards for sticking at it all through the game. With three players missing those who played today deserve tremendous praise for the continuous physical effort.

We arrived at the club for a 9:00 departure, thankfully no-one had been confused by Mrs Spielberg’s attempts to explain the working of the hour forward, clocks backward, forward debacle. The only confusion resulted from Scribblers hangover as he couldn’t remember who had decided to travel directly. We were also greeted to New Boys dad’s legs (Colin) who impressed the assembled throng with tales of athleticism and the fact that he was running the Wilmslow half marathon today – we hope he ran as well as Andy played!

It was fantastic to see that we were also joined by Bambi today who came to cheer along the team, great effort! Scribbler travelled at the head of the convoy with Wolfy Snr and were doing fine as party leaders until discovering that someone had moved Preston’s ground or that Scribblers hangover had taken its toll on his memory as well! As the lads got changed you could sense the nervousness, the biting of nails, the twitching and tapping of feet – and that was just the coaching team!

So in the glorious spring sunshine we kicked off against a Preston side, physically larger than our boys and boasting 8 or 9 Lancashire players. We quickly hit our straps and won some early ball and when we moved it through the hands quickly we looked very dangerous, however we didn’t manage to do it often enough, only three or four times in the first half. It was from the first of these that we opened the scoring when quick hands got the ball to Hanno and he finished it off from 25 yards out; it is great to see his early season form returning and it’s now clear he has recovered from his injury. After this early success we appeared to take our foot off the gas and Preston came right back into the game and for the last fifteen minutes of the half camped out in our 22. The physical commitment of the boys to hold out against the barrage of Preston bodies was extremely impressive, Kylie again demonstrating that tackling is about desire, technique and commitment or in the case of The Sheap about the sheer physicality of trying to bench press a 10 stone Lancastrian. One of the big Preston pack did manage to breach the line and the referee appeared to award the try, only for it to be ruled out as he was judged to have been pushed into touch by a mass of Manchester bodies.

In amongst the tension we also witnessed payback for something The Prof must have said to GB. Having fed the ball to GB for a clearance kick they then got in each other’s way and Tom proceeded to kick Will rather than the ball, for a moment we feared that he might be injured but a closer inspection showed that his forearm was intact and we were able to persuade him to stay on. Preston pressure continued for the rest of the half and the half time whistle came as a bit of relief and a chance for us to re-group. At half time we made a switch bringing Hooky on for One Boot, who had a strong first half and asked the team to stay strong and to play to our strengths.

While the second half was tense we did step-up to the plate in the forward combat, managed to play most of the game in the Preston half and they weren’t able to put much pressure on our line; however we were only one score up and you could feel the nervousness of The Bacon Butty Hunters begin to rise. With ten minutes left on the clock we got the break we needed as a blind side break by Mazzlaar and a well timed pass to GB gave Tom the opportunity to take on the winger and score in the corner. The wind that had made conditions five degrees cooler also meant it was difficult for goal kicking but at 10-0 up with less than a quarter of the match to go the tension on the sidelines had begun to abate. So much so that Mazlaar Snr’s outburst (in an accent suspiciously like Scribblers!) caused the referee to rightly warn him about his voracious enthusiasm not over-stepping the mark – Good man JM, taking one for the team.

The next wave of pressure created by clever kicking by GB, resulted in a Manchester penalty. Instead of opting for a lineout where the Preston forwards had managed to disrupt our ball all match, Mazlaar took a quick penalty, the run away Sheap punched a big hole in the Preston defence and for once quick ruck ball went along the back line Mazz to Hooky to GB to Prof to Hanno and he repeated his first half feat by rounding the last defender to go in at the corner. Usain then graced us with is presence and came on for McHooker who had done a great job against a strong Preston scrum. And shortly afterwards the referee blew for full time and the cheers and sighs of relief could be heard in equal measure.

In the family challenge there will need to be stewards enquiry as a new challenger has emerged, Kylie had all his backing singers today and has clearly thrown down the gauntlet to the Flock of Sheaps who probably just edged it through the presence of Lucy who looked perplexed at the noise and excitement during the game, but appeared to be very impressed by the Grasshoppers chips!

This was a great team effort and is testament to the hard work of the boys in training and on match days that even with a few regulars missing we grafted to this win – very well done from the coaches, you deserve to be in the final and you now have the opportunity to play in a big game for a big prize.

Thanks as ever to our hosts at Preston and to their players for a game played hard and fairly, thanks to the referee who I thought had a great game and thanks to our throng of travelling supporters whose support is always worth a point or two!

The U13s are now part of the trio of Manchester sides who will play in the Lancs Cup Finals Day at Heaton Moor on Sunday 25th April along with the 14s and 16s who also won their semi-finals today against Vale of Lune and Tyldesley. It should be a great day – for reference (and indeed diaries) the games are usually in the afternoon.