Manchester Hold On

Tyldesley were the first to register on the scoreboard but the first half proved very tight and it was Manchester who edged the game at the break. At 7-5 the scoring was all thanks to Olivia Farrow who converted her own try for one of two very valuable conversions.

A great start to the second half as Casey Thompson increased the lead to 12-5 gave Manchester a lot of confidence that they could actually take this game despite the visitors’ reputation. As Manchester’s confidence grew, Tyldesley found the back line more and more difficult to contain and it was a well deserved try for Chloe Snape that made what looked like a decisive gap, converted by Olivia to an even healthier looking 19-5 lead.

For the first time in the game however, Manchester suddenly looked vulnerable when the restart was not cleared and an awkward bouncing ball bobbled over the Manchester line to set up a foot race. Tyldesley were the more alert and they were able to add the conversion to get back into the game at 19-10.

The game was now very even as both sides tackled well, neither able to make much ground with the 10-a-side format suiting both of the well coached teams. It was Tyldesley who made the breakthrough however to set up a nervous last five minutes for Manchester as their lead was cut to 19-15.

To the Manchester girls’ credit, there was absolutely no sign of panic as they pressured Tyldesley and kept them in their own half. Any ambitions to break out of their half were well coped with and a thumping tackle by Rachael Jones to stop Tyldesley’s last attempt summed up the team’s commitment to the cause.

Another notable performance was by Courtney McNamara who played an outstanding match on her debut and is warmly welcomed to the club by the girls (who chose her as Player of the Match).

Apologies for the short report which incredibly is due to the injury to your roving reporter Marcus (Helena Edward’s dad,) who was very unlucky to suffer a very painful injury in support of the girls on Sunday. With Alex ‘the flask’ Thompson (Casey’s dad) also injured and unable to referee we have more parents in the treatment room than players at the moment... Get well soon guys!

To make up for the short report, click here for some bonus photos of the game by Liz Broadbent here as well as ones by Alex and Lewis Farrow on the match report tab.