Ormskirk 12 Crewe & Nantwich 39
A bitterly disappointing result against Manchester Wanderers last week – when ‘kirk gave away a 17 point lead to lose agonisingly in the last few minutes – was a timely reminder to Cliff Kirby’s men that nothing in this league can be taken for granted.
Ormskirk started this match with up to 9 First XV squad players injured or unavailable. This said, the ‘kirk XV who took to the pitch did well in a tight first half. Having weathered a fairly heavy storm in the first 15 minutes, the home team began to find their feet in attack. The Crewe pack made Ormskirk’s forwards work very hard for every scrap of possession, but there were moments when the home team looked like they would kick-start their season with a much needed win against good opposition. Despite some promising forays into Crewe territory, it was the visitors who opened the scoring with a penalty 10 minutes before the interval. These proved to be the only points scored in an otherwise stalemate first half.
With everything to play for, it was the visitors who stepped up to the mark after the re-start, scoring two trys in fairly quick succession – one a long-range interception effort, the other a break from midfield. From here, a series of events conspired against ‘kirk to allow Crewe to extend their lead. Chris Tracey was shown a straight red after purportedly striking the ball-carrier mid-tackle. The harshness of the punishment upset the home crowd, the hooker denying the alleged intent that the referee saw.
Inevitably, this loss upset the balance of ‘kirk’s scrum, and forced some unplanned positional changes. The re-shuffle caused some gaps to appear and - despite some excellent defensive work – particularly from Dickie Underwood and Chris Ashworth, Crewe eventually wore down ‘kirk’s resistance. The visitors used the extra man well, running in four more trys before the final whistle. Crewe did not, however, have everything their own way. Cliff Kirby rose to the challenge and scored two very good trys, causing the visitors a few moments of uncertainty about going home with the two points. The first was a bullocking charge from 30 yards out, the Captain bouncing men off him as he made for the line at some pace. His second was a good stretch and reach effort after a period of clever interplay between forwards and backs. Jamie Wroe drop-kicked one conversion to make it 12-39 when the referee blew for full-time.
A match which saw the referee wearing the same colour shirt as Crewe’s borrowed yellow kit, a harsh sending-off, an unfortunate broken arm for one of Crewe’s pack (all at Ormskirk wish him well), and 6 trys – this was certainly an eventful afternoon at Green Lane! Unfortunately, the result puts ‘kirk in a dog-fight near the foot of the table. There are still hurdles to overcome this season, but the efforts on and off the field point to a positive and hopeful turnaround in fortunes – starting at Wigan this Saturday.
