Ormskirk 2nds v Vale of Lune – 7.10.06
Ormskirk’s 2nd XV shared home billing with the 1st team at Green Lane, although unlike their senior colleagues, they held on to their first half lead to record a well deserved victory over Vale of Lune.
Having won the toss, Vale made the bizarre decision to kick into a stiff breeze, presumably with the intention of keeping the score down in the first half and using it to their advantage later in the game.
The plan was quickly scuppered as Ormskirk proceeded to pepper the right corner with a series of well placed kicks from fly half Roger Spence. With Vale of Lune on the back foot it was only a matter of time before they conceded and Adam Lee duly crossed the whitewash following a powerful run. Back row forward Mark Webster was having an awesome game and his hard work paid off with another five pointer, following some good interplay between Little and Keech in the centre of the park.
Sensing more scores, the home side then suffered a frustrating 15 minutes with a number of passes out of the tackle going to ground. On another day and with a little more luck, Ormskirk could well have been out of reach by half time. However, they had to settle for just one further score - Paul Keech crashing over after a simple switch move in the centres. Fly half Spence had a rare off day with the boot, converting just one of the three tries, although he could point to the blustery conditions as a mitigating factor.
With a 17 nil lead to protect, Ormskirk turned round knowing that they had 40 minutes of hard work to protect their advantage. Vale quickly used the boot to peg pack Ged Dawson’s side, although they did not count on the superior attacking skills of Ormskirk’s pacy back line, who ran the ball out at every opportunity.
Ormskirk’s back row of Kearney, Webster and Dawson also worked hard to keep possession, meaning Vale were just unable to break through. With just five minutes remaining, they took advantage of some scrappy loose ball to force their way over in the corner, although it was too little too late for the Lancaster club. Ormskirk can be proud of a fine all round performance, although they will be slightly disappointed it wasn’t even more convincing.
