Ormskirk extended their unbeaten start to the season to seven games with a convincing 46-20 win against Oswestry at Green Lane on Saturday 17th October 2009
A hat-trick for back rower Andy Wilson was the stand-out performance as Ormskirk ran in eight tries.
The result keeps Ben Davis’ side at the top of South Lancs/Cheshire One on points aggregate after Bowdon maintained their unbeaten start to the season with a win at home to Sale.
Ormskirk raced into an early lead on Saturday as John Curley touched down in the opening five minutes of the game. The home side’s pack had driven up the middle of the pitch and fly-half John Armstrong spun the ball out to Curley’s centre partner, Ray Doolan.
Doolan attacked the space out-wide and just as three defenders tried to stop his progress he skilfully off-loaded to Curley who had a 30 metre sprint to the line.
Armstrong then extended his side’s lead by catching the opposition off-guard and setting up a try for winger Luke Parker. Having been awarded a penalty in Oswestry’s 22, Armstrong shaped to kick for touch but instead took a quick tap and as the defence rushed up he chipped the ball into the try area for Parker to gather and touch down.
The home side continued to dominate proceedings for the remainder of the first half with hooker Rai Chambers finding Cliff Kirby at the lineout with great precision and skipper Davis and Glyn Roberts making inroads into the Oswestry defence from the back row. Winger Ben McCarthy and Wilson grabbed tries before half-time to give their side a healthy lead.
In the second period the visitors threatened to come back into the game with a couple of tries but Ormskirk’s pace out-wide was a constant threat with Armstrong frequently setting up attacking plays from anywhere on the pitch.
Wilson grabbed his hat-trick with a superb display of support running as the agile back-rower finished off breaks from McCarthy and Curley.
In the final few minutes, the impressive Doolan, who had been switched to the wing, crashed over for Ormskirk’s final try after cutting an inside line to claim a well deserved score under the posts.
