South Lancs & Cheshire Division 1
Oswestry 6 Sale F.C. 38
Sale travelled to Shropshire to take on newly-promoted Oswestry and came away as the new leaders of South Lancs. & Ches. Div. 1.
A flurry of early penalties saw the hosts take a 6-3 lead in a disjointed opening period as both sides tried to gain the upper hand. A fine run from Andrew Baston midway through the half saw the hooker scythe through the home defence for a try, converted by Mike Raikes to give us a 10-6 lead from which we never looked back.
Whilst the league newcomers contested at every opportunity, we started to impose ourselves on the match and on the half hour a neat break from captain Jack Moorhouse caught Os’ napping as he raced through for a try again converted by Raikes. Both sides missed a penalty attempt in the closing minutes of the half, with Raikesey particularly unlucky as his attempt from 30 metres hit the upright and bounced clear, as we reached the break 17-6 ahead.
In the opening minutes of the second period Oswestry scrum half Wilcock was yellow carded for tripping, and this was the precursor of further problems later in the half. Sale used the extra man advantage to good effect following a scrum close to the home line when prop Dom Fraternali was driven over for a try and again Mike Raikes was on target to extend the lead to 24-6.
On 45 minutes Carl Turley and Tom Holloway came on for “Blanny” and “Cookie” Williams and minutes later, good handling by the backs ended with Chris Lillie touching down and Raikes adding the conversion to put us totally in command.
Sadly, from this point the match deteriorated as a spectacle as frustrations, which had been simmering for some time, boiled over on the hour when an Oswestry second row received a yellow card for stamping.
From that point, play again became totally disjointed with little rugby of merit from either side but we had the last word when in the final minute Mike Thiel, who replaced Marc Kellett with 10 minutes to go, finished off a move in fine style to score under the posts and Raikes added the extras for a comprehensive win.
Coach Jon Aby summed up the match in just four words “Good result, poor performance”
We now look forward to taking on Wirral at Heywood Road next Saturday.
Neil Thallon