Season: 2017-2018
Sale FC vs Stourbridge
Daylight at the top
Sale took on second placed Stourbridge at Heywood Road in a match, quite rightly, billed as a potentially defining game in the race for promotion.
Spurred on by a healthy crowd, the blue and whites came out of the blocks like Olympic sprinters as, within a couple of minutes, Rhys Davies made a brilliant charge down and, from a resulting lineout, the forwards rumbled towards the line with Joe Kelly crashing over.
The shell-shocked visitors had barely had chance to draw breath, when, following a lengthy consultation with the touch judge, their prop was shown a straight red card and Chris Johnson was soon to extend the lead with a well struck penalty.
Sale were dominating possession and, after an arrow-like kick to the corner from Chris Johnson, the men from the Black Country could not contain the juggernaut pack, with Jake Barron this time touching down.
The away side did finally start to settle into the game, with several powerful runs from their forwards a feature, but Sale resisted the pressure and then scored a third try as Adam Aigbokhae emerged from the back of yet another powerful maul.
HT Sale 22 Stourbridge 0
Stourbridge regrouped during the interval and, despite playing with 14 men, started to compete well and justify their lofty position.
As always though, the Sale defence was proving a tough nut to crack and even when the visitors did manage to cross the line, several home players were on hand to prevent the ball reaching the turf.
The persistent rain and heavy pitch began to have more and more of a detrimental influence on proceedings and it looked as though the league leaders were going to miss out on a bonus point, as they had at Huddersfield two weeks earlier.
However, with time almost up, they broke to devastating effect as Chris Johnson put an inch perfect kick over the tiring defence. Mark Lawrence collected well from the sodden ground and offloaded for Chris Mayor to scamper in with Chris Johnson adding the extras again.
FT Sale 29 Stourbridge 0
With third place Hinckley also losing, Sale extended the gap at the top to 8 points with their 16th straight win and, with only 7 games left to play, they are in a fantastic position to achieve the dream of playing National League One rugby next season – albeit the portly lady is not exercising her vocal chords just yet!
 Sale FCStourbridge 
29 - 0Full Time |
Sedgley Park 2 v Sale FC 2
 Sedgley Park 2
15:00Preview |
Sale FC 2 v Preston 2
Preston 2 
15:00Preview |
Huddersfield vs Sale FC
Sale extend lead at the top
Sale travelled across the Pennines for this rearranged fixture against Huddersfield with the picturesque Yorkshire venue bathed in sunshine.
The game started fairly evenly with both defences forcing a number of errors but the visitors were first to affect the scoreboard as the reliable boot of Chris Johnson made no mistake with two penalties.
Gareth Rawlings was already having an influential game in the second row and, following his good work stealing the ball in a ruck, Tom Ailes galloped deep into the home side’s territory before off-loading for Sam Stelmaszek to scamper in for the first try.
Sale’s defence, a major strength all season, then survived a sustained period of Huddersfield pressure before the blue and whites broke out to devastating effect with Matt Bradley making good yardage before releasing Adam Aigbokhae to race in.
HT Huddersfield 0 Sale 20
Sale started the second half on the front foot and were soon awarded another penalty which Chris Johnson kicked to extend the lead.
However, the Yorkshiremen were proving resilient opponents and another period of considerable pressure, during which Sale’s Adam Aigbokhae was shown a yellow card, was eventually rewarded with a try and conversion.
The table toppers were not be derailed though as they went through phase after phase before moving the ball out wide for Jon Blanchard to plunge over the line. This is John’s first ever senior try for the club, a momentous occasion for the ex m&j player.
The only question remaining was whether Sale could score a fourth try and achieve the additional bonus point but, despite Huddersfield being reduced to 13 players late on, they could not quite seize the opportunity, with Tom Ailes try being ruled a double movement.
FT Huddersfield 7 Sale 28
Yet another win on the road extended Sale’s winning run to 15 games and increased the gap at the top of National League 2 North to 5 points, with nearest rivals Stourbridge losing in a high scoring game at Tynedale.
Next week we travel to Luctonians who languish at the bottom of the table. Sale FC were in the same position two years ago and know how hard they’ll be fighting to stay in National 2 North.
 HuddersfieldSale FC
7 - 28Full Time |
Firwood Waterloo 2 v Sale FC 2
 Firwood Waterloo 2
15:00Preview |