U14 - RUSTY MOWDEN EDGED OUT OF CLOSE GAME

On a frosty pitch at West Hartlepool, Mowden Park ran out to play their first game for 7 weeks with only a couple of training sessions under their belt. West fielded much the same team of heavy forwards that claimed a narrow 5-0 victory in October.

In a reverse of the previous game West had the advantage in the first half applying pressure through their forwards but with little invention and the tough tackling of Joe Craggs, Tom Lawson and Callum Oakes prevented any real damage. And when West finally decided there was no way through the middle and tried to move the ball to the left Jonny Teague, Tamer Fuat, Elliot Wanless and Aidan Smith were more than a match for their backs forcing errors from the West players.

Unfortunately, the West scrum dominated the set piece and Gordon Thompson found it difficult to get the ball into hooker James McLintock with the scrum going backwards before the ball was in and West won several against the head to keep up the pressure.

However, the Mowden defence continued to be solid with second row forwards Sam Lorimer and Michael Hall also putting down the larger West players. With Mowden’s defence halting every West attack, Mowden began to win ball in the loose. Sadly, the team’s lack of matches and training showed as passes failed to go to hand or were dropped, so instead of relieving pressure, Mowden brought pressure back on themselves.

Finally, with about ten minutes of the half to play, West pressure and rusty Mowden play forced a penalty near the try line. Despite a tremendous defensive effort West went over in the Mowden right corner for try. The conversion was missed to leave the score at 5-0.

That sparked Mowden’s best period of the first half. Simon Shepherd and Connor Noble began to get to grips with their opponents and the scrums became a little more even. Winning their own ball from a scrum Jonny brushed his opposite number aside and made good ground, tying in a number of West forwards. Gordon spotted the opportunity and fired the ball down the line to Matty Warr on the left wing. He sprinted towards the line and only a fine tackle by the West full back prevented a try.

With more ball to play with, Mowden began to exploit their speed and ball skills with Tamer, Elliot, Aidan and Mattie causing problems for the West defence. Mowden also had a number of chances to increase the pressure on West after forcing a number of penalties but seemed to have forgotten their set moves and opportunities were given away in confused and slow passing and unforced errors.

In fact the only danger in the last 10 minutes was when Mowden were harshly penalised for holding on, on the edge of the West 22. A quick and powerful kick with the wind resulted in a chase for the ball that ended close to the Mowden line. However good play by Elliot, winning the ball, gave Mark Wilson the chance to run back and he made 25 yards up the right side, pirouetting through four tackles before being bundled into touch.

Half time West Hartlepool 5 Mowden 0

In the second half Matty and Aidan were rested and Mark Harsley and John Payne replaced them on the wings. In the scrum Max Harrison joined as flanker with Callum replacing Sam in the second row. During the half Ryan Hall replaced James as hooker and Alfie Wilson and Dom Gibson replacing Simon and Connor in the front row.

The changes in the scrum added a bit more weight and maintained the defensive strength. With West now prevented from pushing before the ball was in, Mowden were winning more ball to test the West defence. Moving the ball down the line Mark H went close and, if he had trusted his own pace to go outside the defender instead of trying to cut inside, could well have scored.

However, Mowden did not have long to wait to even the score. From yet more good tackling by Mowden the ball went loose and Jonny picked it from the floor and charged forward. The ball was set back and sent out to John on the half way line. He rounded one defender and powerfully handed off another to create a run in almost under the posts. Unfortunately, Tamer misjudged the kick and score remained at 5-5.

With Mowden on top another score looked likely but although Mowden were winning more ball the astonishingly fast West scrum half and flankers prevented Gordon getting the ball away cleanly and Mowden were forced back into their own 22 through handling errors. Time and again Mowden won the ball but chose to try to run it out of defence instead of using the wind and kicking to safety. Eventually, with only a minute to go poor decision-making gave West an opportunity and a scrappy drop kick limped over for 3 points.

However Mowden did not give up and from a quick restart forced an error from West on their own 22. Unfortunately, with more than a hint of offside the West scrum half and flanker tackled Gordon and the ref blew for full time.

Final score West Hartlepool 8 Mowden 5

A great defensive display that shows we are more than a match for anyone in that department! Hopefully the poor decision making and unusually poor handling is just rustiness after the long layoff. Let’s hope we can get some training in and some cobwebs blown out before the next game in a fortnight!

Next game is at home to Acklam on 23rd January.