With the under 14s’ chances of qualifying for the later stages of the Lancashire Cup hanging by a thread it was vital to make use of home advantage against last year’s finalists West Park. Unfortunately late in the day the lads were told that the match would now be away and so making a tough task even harder still. In addition the team was hit by illness and injury and so a rather muted squad made their way over to St. Helens to face one of the most difficult matches of the season.
From the kick-off it looked like Ormskirk would have to be at their best to contain a very useful looking West Park team.West Park looked very lively in the opening exchanges and only some desperate defence kept them at bay. Eventually the pressure told and from a few yards out West Park drove over to score the first try. Ormskirk came back into the game and a couple of good runs by Adam Selfe and Tom Anderson showed that they meant business.’Kirk were doing well at this stage but allowed West Park to break through the defensive line and from a resulting scrum near the line their no.8 picked up the ball and found a gap to go through for try number 2.
From the kick-off West Park secured the ball well and moved the ball out wide for their winger to scorch down the touchline to go in for try three. To end a disastrous half for ‘Kirk they conceded a late try with only seconds to play leaving an almost impossible task in the second half.
Half-time: West Park 28   Ormskirk 0Â
With the wind now behind them Ormskirk looked to salvage some pride from the game. It was not long before ‘Kirk got their first points on the board. West Park were penalised at a scrum and quick thinking by Tom Povey saw him taking a tap and going in at the corner. Unfortunately this stung West Park into action and they soon recorded their fifth try after some weak tackling out on the flanks allowed them to go in at the corner.
To give credit to Ormskirk for the rest of the half they competed well and the tackling improved significantly. The game almost seemed to go into stalemate and neither side could find that bit of spark to break the opposition line. The only downside to the half was the late yellow card for Matty Jones who mis-timed a tackle and went too high leaving referee Jones liitle option but to give him ten minutes in, ‘the bin.’Everyone who knows Matty recognises he is not a ‘dirty’ player and hopefully he and the rest of the players will learn from this.
Final Score: West Park 33  Ormskirk 5
Whilst not taking anything away from West Park who were undoubtedly the better team on the day the under 14s not only had to battle with absentees but also had to hand away home advantage. A big thank you must go to team manager Nik James who had the difficult task of re-arranging the fixture to ensure it went ahead. It now looks as if The Lancashire Cup is over for another season and a campaign that started with a lot of optimism will end on a disappointing note. Hopefully the lads can take a lot of heart from the matches so far, particularly in pushing Preston Grasshoppers all the way earlier in the season and the loss by one point to Bury in a match they could and should have won.Hopefully everyone can have a relaxing Christmas and come back all engines firing in The New Year.
