If ever there was a time not to play the under 13s this was it. With places up for grabs in next week’s Lancashire Plate Final, every player was keen to give of their best and impress the coaches into picking them.
Ormskirk had the unenviable task of playing the first half into a stiff breeze on a pitch which, although muddy in places, was in a reasonable condition when considering the poor weather conditions on The Fylde Coast over the previous week. In the first few minutes Ormskirk tested the resolve of the Fleetwood team by a series of forward drives. Even though Fleetwood tackled well it was not long before ‘Kirk won a line-out near the opposition line and the ball was neatly passed down the line for Olly Hogan to go in under the posts. Straight from the kick-off Ormskirk unleashed a counter attack with the ball passed out wide for Matt White to go in at the corner.
Again from the kick-off Ormskirk pushed forward and it took several attempts to stop Craig Ennis on one of his trademark rampaging runs. However this was only a brief respite as Craig collected the ball again and a clever off-load to Robbie Jones gave him an easy try under the sticks. ‘Kirk again pressed forward and a good run by Tom Povey saw him pass to Luke Millington who burst through to score.
As the game wore on Ormskirk were totally in charge and with winning so much ball at the set piece it was not long before a well won scrum saw Robbie Jones pass the ball out wide for flying winger Tom Anderson to go over for his first try of the game. This was then quickly followed by tries from James Woods and Tom Povey to leave Ormskirk in total charge as the half-time whistle sounded.
Half-time: Fleetwood  0   Ormskirk 47
With such total dominance this allowed the coaches not only the chance to make regular substitutions but also to make some important positional switches.Ormskirk kicked off the second half and it was not long before they cheekily stole the ball and moved the ball quickly along the back line for Olly Hogan to go in for his second of the game.
Following on from this it was not long before prop Arron Waggoner crashed over for a rare try. From the kick off the ever busy Kyle Hoy made a superb run before being tackled by several desperate defenders. However from the resulting scrum the ball was well picked up by Marcus Rylance woo made sure of his points by diving over. Again the pressure on Fleetwood was relentless and another good pass by Robbie Jones put Matt White over in the corner for his second of the game. To wrap up the game ‘Kirk finished with three quick tries from Sam Elesedy, Tom Povey and Matty Jones. With Graham Bishop(6) and Matt White(3) kicking well it put the icing on an excellent performance from the under 13’s. A final post script to the game was to give Fleetwood a large pat on the back for never giving up the fight even though they were out-gunned in nearly every phase of the game.
Final-Score: Fleetwood 0   Ormskirk 88
The performances this Sunday have now given the coaches some very difficult decisions to make in respect of Sunday’s Lancashire Plate Final. It is this scenario which the coaching staff were looking forward to at the start of the season with healthy competition in all positions which is what we are now being able to see. To end with a quick word of commmiseration for Michael Quirk who is unavailable for the final due to a pre-arranged trip to France with his school. Over recent weeks Michael seems to have lifted his game to a new level and it is a disappointment to everyone that he will be missing on Finals day but also to remember that he has played his part in getting us there.
