Another Lead Slips Away

Sat 26th Sep 2009, 03:00 PM
17 Garstang - Ashton under Lyne 28

No match report has been submitted from Garstang 1^st team at the moment.  Hopefully one will follow soon.

Garstang Team:  B.Corless, Yardley, Miller, Everest, Orr, Richardson, Pye, Yates, Charles, Robinson (Capt.), Emmott, Winkler, Bell, Sparkes.  Replacements:  Taylor, Blackley, Smith and H.Jones (Coach).

The match as reported by Ashton-under-Lyne is as follows:

“Ashton got off to a good start with an early try on Saturday, Dave Stanley and Daniel Quinn making key breaks in a move which involved some good handling from both forwards and backs, until Stanley made the final touchdown. However, it wasn’t long before Garstang had hit back, as they turned over possession in the Ashton half, and kept the ball moving well for a converted try which gave them the lead.

For the rest of the half nothing seemed to go right for the home side. Neither team really dominated possession, but Garstang always seemed to look the more dangerous, until disaster struck on the half hour. Stanley went down injured and after five minutes delay was stretchered off with a strongly suspected broken ankle. Then only minutes after the game had restarted, Quinn was also forced to leave the field with a shoulder injury.

Not only had Ashton lost Stanley’s strong running, which has impressed in every game this season, prior to their departure in this match he and Quinn had both featured prominently in the loose, and were acting as the main line out jumpers. Add to this the fact that Gareth Callan had also missed three kicks at goal before half time - as many as he had previously missed all season - and the Gambrel Bank outfit seemed to be looking at a precipice to climb after the interval.

However, skipper Matt Worthington superbly rallied his men, and within minutes Ashton were in front. Garstang were penalised for holding on, and Callan’s accurate kick found touch right in the corner. Worthington had taken over line out duties himself, and his clean take was used to set up a rolling maul which set up Neil Oldham for the final touchdown. Callan got his eye in with the conversion, but the visitors were soon back in contention with a penalty, to which Ashton quickly responded by taking play back to the same corner where they scored not long before. This time the visitors had the put in, but they seemed to get everything wrong, and back row man Neil Pearson made an easy catch before trotting over for a try which Callan again converted.

Play then swung both ways again before a Callan penalty took the home side further in front, but Garstang were far from finished and as the game entered its last ten minutes, it was their turn to force a line out in the corner. The initial maul was kept out, but Ashton were penalised in the process, and the visiting pack drove forward again for a converted try which put them just five points behind. From the restart though, a Garstang knock on saw the ball played by a man standing in front of the catcher, and Callan stretched the lead before landing a final penalty in the dying seconds to ensure that Ashton had well and truly climbed their mountain.

No one could deny that the probable long term loss of Stanley cast a shadow over the game, but it had been a magnificent second half comeback, in which every man on the field deserves full credit”

Match report courtesy of http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/ashtonulyne/