The Black Reds went into this game needing a precious victory to ease relegation fears. Coach, Mark Richardson knowing that heavy rain had softened the pitch brought heavy weight scrum half, Heinie Jonker back to his favoured position and experimented with Jack Clegg at number 10. Both moves paid off but a win would elude the Black Reds.
Straight from the kick-off, Sandbach launched a series of attacks on the Aspatria line. The visitors moved the ball slickly from right to left trying to unpick the Black Red wall that faced them. With more patience they would have scored but frustrated by some hard hitting they eventually turned over the ball and allowed the home team to clear their lines.
Against the run of play it was Aspatria who opened the scoring on their first visit into Sandbach territory. On 8minutes, Steven Stoddart launched a mighty kick, the first of many excellent clearance kicks from the full back. The ball went out on the visitors 22 giving them the throw but the line out was poorly executed, allowing the Black Reds to regain possession. The ball squirted back to scrum half, Heinie Jonker who outwitted the defence with a blind side run, to score in the corner. The conversion was missed but Aspatria tails were up. Aspatria now had the upper hand and continued to press through pack power. There were excellent runs from No8, David Humes and his fellow back rowers, Mark Beverley and Jacques Rowe. The pressure eventually told on 18 minutes when the lead was increased to 8:0 through a Stoddart penalty.
On the sodden Bower Park pitch, Sandbach were finding it hard to get any rhythm. The visitors had a good share of the ball and clearly had talent in the back line but they simply could not master the bog like conditions. Some good chances to get back in the game were missed and at other times the terrier like Aspatria defence held firm. Regrettably, on 25 minutes the game turned. Coach Richardson was pleading with his men for discipline, discipline, discipline as they defended. His words fell on deaf ears and not for the first time this season the home side found themselves a man down as Adam Birkett made his way to the bin. The resultant penalty by stand-off, Cargill, allowed Sandbach to post a welcome 3 points. With a man short the Aspatria scrum suffered and Sandbach found possession easy to come by. As the first half closed the visitors began to dominate play and it was no surprise when they scored on 35 minutes through an unlikely source. The Aspatria defence was over stretched and tackles were being missed, they were eventually outflanked and the man on the outside was prop forward, Jonny Stanway who galloped 20 meters to the line where he flopped down for the try. The conversion was missed.
Straight from the restart, Sandbach were back on the offensive. Again pressure or was it indiscipline told and on 38 minutes, Cargill had an easy kick to put Sandbach ahead for the first time in the game. At this stage, Aspatria could not hold the visitors. With the last move of the first half, the Sandbach back line moved the ball wide; winger Murray looked well covered but he managed to evade two tacklers to go in at the corner to provide the visitors with an 8:16 interval lead.
Aspatria clearly felt that this game was not yet lost and started the second period with a blitz on the visitor’s line. With only 2 minutes of the half gone, Stoddart missed with a penalty attempt. On a dry day an easy kick but not so when six inches of mud and sluther are clawing at your ankles. Fortunately, Aspatria did not have to wait long for some reward, Bower Park forward power was now on overdrive. Seven minutes into the half, the pack driven forward by team captain Gary Harrison gained good field position, allowing inspirational scrum half, Jonker to squeeze through the tightest of gaps to plonk the ball down. Stoddart converted to bring the score line back to 15:16.
Sandbach were in the firing line with infrequent visits to the Aspatria half. Unfortunately, for the Black Reds, on occasions when the visitors did break out penalties were conceded allowing Cargill several shots at goal. He was successful with two of the kicks giving Sandbach a 7 point advantage.
Aspatria held the upper hand for long periods in the second half. Jack Clegg, playing at stand-off for the first time this season tormented the defence with some clever chip kicks. On 34 minutes one of these kicks might have brought Aspatria back into the game. The ball was inch perfect into the dead-ball area; Stoddard was bearing down for the score but was beaten by inches by a desperate defender. With Aspatria throwing everything at Sandbach it was inevitable that gaps would appear in their own defence. On 36 minutes it was winger Murray who exploited a tiring defence to register his second score which was accompanied by an excellent conversion by Cargill.
The game was just about over but the Black Reds finished with a flourish. With a minute remaining, Clegg chipped a ball over the defence, centre Ricky Holliday read the situation well, ran onto the ball and crashed over the line to provide the final score line 22:29. Overall, Sandbach just about deserved the win but Aspatria will be frustrated that despite testing yet another top side they still have only one win from twelve games and face an uphill struggle for league survival.
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