Mayfield Rugby League

29/12/2007 Mayfield 14 Leigh East 10

29/12/2007 Mayfield 14 Leigh East 10

By “Mad Mal The Mauler”

Today’s opposition Leigh East were without doubt favourites for a victory today with Mayfield missing half a dozen ‘regulars’ who were unavailable for differing reasons. The gaps had to be filled with some of the up-and-coming lads out of Mayfield’s ‘B’ squad and they sure didn’t come up short on a day that could only be described as horrendous. High winds, driving rain and temperatures that had brass monkeys hanging on to their proverbials!

Right from the kick off with the wind at their backs the ball carried over the dead ball line immediately giving Leigh the advantage of the first attack with the evergreen Lee Hanson taking the ball forward only to be swamped by four eager Mayfield defenders setting the pattern of aggressive tackling for the rest of the game!

On 5 minutes a penalty for offside gave Matt Gartland a shot at goal bringing the first two points. Then it was back to the struggle against each other and the elements, on 10 minutes Mayfield conceded a penalty for holding down and Dave Radley restored the balance 2 - 2

On 20 minutes the first yellow card was brandished by Mr Farrell to Tony Hilton for striking!

On 22 minutes with Leigh pressuring Mayfield’s line a neat grubber went through the defence, and luckily for Mayfield, on into touch just beating the onrushing attackers. Battling through the resolute Leigh defenders Mayfield managed to bring the ball out to the 30 metre line where Ste Gartland used the wind to hoist a kick deep into Leigh’s half and the chasers bringing down fullback Mark Kay on his 20 metre line.

Leigh then worked the ball down field and on 29 minutes went over the whitewash after a kick through only to be disallowed for offside, a let off for Mayfield!

On 38 minutes Leigh’s No 4 Liam Rowson was yellow carded for laying out Ste Gartland with a high shot. With the ensuing penalty at almost half time Matt Gartland took a shot at goal, but it slid wide leaving the half time score at 2 - 2 with both sides heading for the sheds to put some warmth back in their frozen limbs!

The second half with the driving wind and rain now in Mayfield’s faces continued in a similar vein to the first with each side matching the other except for an offside penalty that gave Leigh the chance on 42 minutes to take the lead and No 12 Dave Radley did just that 2 - 4.

Leigh looked much more confident now and on 50 minutes No 3 Carl Redford ran through some indecisive defending to touch down just to the right of the upright and Radley again converted 2 - 10

To rub salt in the wound Steve Gartland was sinned binned for taking a dig at the guy who had just put his elbow in Steve’s gob and retaliation is worse than the initial assault in the eyes of the officials! It wasn’t looking good for Mayfield by this time! Only a minute later though with things boiling up the balance in numbers was evened up as Leigh’s Simon Stephens was given a 10 minute spell in the bin. Almost immediately another incident where a Leigh player attempted a decapitation merited only a few words to the player and captain! From the penalty a couple of swift passes starting with Pete Draper and ending up with Matt Gartland finding space to slide through the Leigh defence for a great morale boosting try! Chris Brett stepped up to convert the try while Garts was being treated for cramp off field 8 -10

The comeback, could it be on? Of course it could……on 65 minutes Matt Calland showed his once legendary strength and determination to fend off the Leigh defence to jubilantly touch down then hurl the ball high into the air in celebration, Chris Brett again converting 14 -10

The last 15 minutes had both sets of supporters on the edge of their seats as one mistake would have won or lost the game for either side.

On 70 minutes with Mayfield trying to hold Leigh in their own 20 metre an attempted 40/20 was only thwarted by Rob Kershaw who was the only one in back play as he was being treated for cramp by the physio, leaping up to stop the ball going into touch and limping back for a precious 10 metres and more importantly for Mayfield’s defence to get into place!

Young Sean Snape also showed courage to collect a Leigh kick through in the face of three charging attackers and spoil any chance of a score!

The last chance Mayfield had to score was stopped right on the line when a final pass was knocked down by a desperate Leigh hand, which gave Leigh time to re-organise their defence behind the scrum and keep Mayfield out!

At the final whistle the relief in the stand was mirrored by a standing ovation from a very sizable crowd for a magnificent win and to a team that showed grit and determination against a very good side in Leigh East!

With this win and Wigan St Pat’s losing Mayfield move up to 5th level on 22 with today’s opponents, but behind them on points difference

On the whole the Referee Mr Farrell had a decent game and he is pencilled in again for next weeks encounter with top of the table opponents East Hull, so if you didn’t get to today’s game make sure you get there next Saturday to cheer the lads on!

A mention should go to the young lion hearts that stepped up today and didn’t disappoint, well done lads! The future at Mayfield is bright if they are anything to go by?

Leigh’s Man-of -the-Match was John Taylor
Mayfield’s Man-of-the-Match was Pete Draper
The Sponsors Man-of-the-Match was Steve Gartland
On a horrible day like today I’d have given everyone on the meadow a gong!