This week the under 14s welcomed their old friends from the coast, Southport, in The Blackstick’s Blue Lancashire Plate 1/4 final. Ormskirk felt they had the edge after comprehensively beating them in an early season clash but it is to be remembered that Southport were a few men down on that day and would certainly prove to be a different proposition with a full strength team. Ormskirk were forced into an early team re-shuffle with scrum-half Matty Jones missing through illness and Robbie Jones taking his place.
Southport kicked off on a very wet and windy Green Lane morning.Ormskirk were quick into the action and won an early penalty and from the resulting line-out moved the ball out wide only to lose possession after knocking on. ‘Kirk were soon on the attack again but a speculative kick forward was easily grounded by the ‘Port full-back. Southport were finding it difficult to get some possession and were doing a lot of tackling; none better than when bundling Craig Ennis into touch when in full flow.’kirk were awarded a penalty and Tom Povey kicked the goal to put them three points up. From the kick-off the game became a little scrappy in midfield until a good run by full back Adam Selfe was stopped by a good covering tackle.Unfortunately in the process Adam took a nasty knock to the knee and had to come off - a big blow for Ormskirk as he was the form player of the moment after a brace of tries in last week’s game.However Ormskirk persevered with the attack and the ball was moved out to Tom Povey who went in for the first try of the match. Ormskirk seemed to be taking control of the game and a good run by Arron Waggoner and nicely driven kick by Robbie Jones saw good territory being made.Finally ‘Kirk made the pressure count after a great run by winger Jay Owens set up good field position near the Southport line and the ball was brilliantly picked up by the ever improving Nick Winrow to dive over for try number two. With Ormskirk in control they ended the half down to 14 men after referee Jones had little option but to show centre Olly Hogan a yellow card for a trip on a Southport player.
Half-time: Ormskirk 13  Southport 0
With Ormskirk down to 14 men, Southport saw this as a great opportunity to come back into the game. Within a few minutes of the start ‘Port were on the attack and were soon a try to the good after their no.8 barged over reducing the lead to just eight points. This early session was probably Southport’s best period of the match and they were unlucky not to score a second try when it took committed Ormskirk tackling to keep them out. With Ormskirk now back to a full complement of players they soon started to move the ball forward in a series of attacking breaks.Finally Craig Ennis took the bull by the horns and drove over 30 yards to score an excellent individual try. Ormskirk were now starting to gain a stranglehold on proceedings and good work by flankers Harry James and Kyle Hoy were making life very difficult for the Southport outfit. Finally Ormskirk put the game to bed after Rob Hall drove the ball out of his own half with the ball eventually finding  its way to Kyle Hoy to wrap up the game with try number four. Southprt however to their credit never gave up and a fine run down the touch-line was only ended by illegal means. From the resulting penalty the ball moved across the field and only an excellent tackle by the tenacious Jamie Griffiths brought the move to an end and with it the last chance of the game.
Full-time: Ormskirk 23  Southport 5
Ormskirk now look to defend their Plate trophy with a match in a couple of weeks against the winners of the Rochdale Versus Rossendale game in the semi-final. All in all a good days work for the under 14’s against a very plucky Southport outfit. The coaches will now be looking forward to working with the players at training on Wednesday and Thursday.
