Ormskirk maintained their unbeaten league record by rescuing a 12-12 draw away at Glossop on Saturday.
The Green Lane men struggled to break down a disciplined home side defence and had to rely on the boot of fly-half John Armstrong for their points.
Glossop’s huge pack of forwards caused Ben Davis’ men problems throughout the match and the home side outscored Ormskirk two tries to nil and were winning 12-6 going into the final 10 minutes.
However, the visitors did start the stronger of the two sides and the first 20 minutes turned out to be the period that Ormskirk looked most likely to score.
Their first attack came courtesy of an Armstrong up and under which was retrieved skilfully in mid-air by centre Gareth Little. At the resulting breakdown, Glossop’s forwards conceded a penalty which Armstrong slotted over for a 3-0 lead.
The home side were allowed back into the match though as persistent indiscipline by Ormskirk’s forwards gave away a succession of penalties for offences in and around the ruck.
Glossop’s fly-half Brendon Stanford was able to kick his side deep into Ormskirk’s 22 and from the resulting lineout his pack exploited their size advantage by producing a rolling maul which crashed its way over the try line.
Ormskirk were then struck another blow as Kiwi hooker Rai Chambers was forced off due to a calf injury although Armstrong was able to kick his second penalty of the day to give his side a 6-5 lead at half-time.
The second half followed the same structure as the first with Glossop starving Ormskirk’s pacey backline of possession and scoring chances rarely arising for both sides. 18 Year Old Winger Ben McCarthy in only his second start for the First Team threatened each time he touched the ball in an impressive performance which gained him the man of the match award.
But despite McCarthy’s attacking runs, Ormskirk squandered the few chances they were able to create with poor decision making and sloppy handling making for a frustrating second half performance.
And it was the home side who struck a crucial blow with 20 minutes remaining as centre Sean Cassell burst through Ormskirk’s line to cross for the second try of the day. The conversion gave the home side a six point lead which remained going into the final 10 minutes but Armstrong’s cool head reduced the arrears.
First the fly-half slotted an impressive penalty kick from the half-way line and kept his nerve five minutes later to add another to level the scores.
In the final stages both sides failed to create many opportunities to snatch victory before the final whistle, but did witness the Third First Team debut this season from an 18 year old when Jake Hodgson was introduced on the hour and he nearly clinched the match with a clever outside break that he just failed to finish.
The result keeps Ormskirk in third place in the South Lancs/Cheshire One division with seven points from their opening four games.
This week, Ormskirk welcome Vagabonds from the Isle of Man to Green Lane looking for their third league win of the season kicking off at 1430 Hrs at HQ.
