North Two West: Winnington Park 0-24 Glossop
Glossop visited Northwich on Saturday to take on Winnington Park, with the visitors in search of another five points to boost their quest for top spot in North 2 West.
Games between the two teams are usually hard fought encounters and you would have to go back to the 2015/16 season to find the last time Winnington failed to get on the scoreboard at home in a league fixture.
The Glossop defence was superb for the full eighty minutes, keeping the home team to nil, despite sustained pressure particularly in the second half.
The first half belonged totally to The Hillmen, who opened the scoring after just five minutes. Excellent ball retention from the kick off saw Glossop work their way into the Winnington ‘22 where they won a penalty. The decision was made to kick to the corner and take the line out, so with the ball secured, prop Joe Dearnaley, who is currently enjoying a period of excellent form, was able to power over for an unconverted try.
Winnington Park bounced back and went close to scoring following a quickly taken penalty just in the Glossop half. Excellent last ditch defence halted the attack short of the line, before Glossop won a penalty and were able to clear their lines and relieve the pressure.
The next twenty minutes went without incident with both defences being tested to no avail. Winnington had an opportunity to reduce the deficit with a penalty attempt but their kick drifted wide.
On the half hour mark, Dave Stanley extended the Glossop lead with an excellent break away try from inside his own half. Good defence by Glossop forced a knock on from the home team in the midfield, allowing Stanley to race away for a try despite the attention of two or three home defenders. Tom Dearnaley landed the conversion. 0 – 12.
The next ten minutes leading to half time would see Glossop score two further tries to seal the bonus point before the interval. The first was an excellent individual effort from Matt Sonczak down the left flank, showing great pace and strength to beat three defenders on his way to the line. 0 – 17.
Sonczak would also play a part in the next try when he skilfully kept the ball in play after Winnington attempted to kick a penalty to touch. From here the ball was shifted to Zak Round in the midfield who scythed through the disjointed home defence, resulting in a converted try for Damien Chabas in the final play of the half to give Glossop a 0 -24 lead.
In the second half, neither team were able to make a change to the scoreboard. Winnington threw everything they had at Glossop but the visiting defence was on form and repelled every attack, even when reduced to fourteen men following a yellow card for winger Max Horsfall.
As the pitch conditions worsened, handling and expansive rugby became difficult but credit should go to both teams who, despite the lack of points scored, kept the crowd entertained with some quality play.
Glossop are now second in the league, four points behind Manchester but having played a game less.
Next week Glossop are in cup action away at West Bridgford in Nottinghamshire for what it sure to be a tough test.
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