Mayfield Rugby League

26/01/2008 Mayfield 24 Siddal 10

26/01/2008 Mayfield 24 Siddal 10

By “Mad Mal The Mauler”

Today’s game with Siddal was expected to be a tough encounter with a side that has been on form of late turning in good results against some of the top teams, so it was Mayfield beware from the start!

From Siddal’s kick off their players intent on pinning Mayfield in their own 20 was evident by the fast follow up and hard tackling, but use of the brain and the following wind saw Steve Gartland hoof a beautiful 40/20 to take the heat off! After a couple of minutes Mayfield pressure, No6 Lee Gudor almost returned the favour with a kick to the Mayfield 10 metre line. Horns were locked now going back and forward with each side solid in defence.

A Paul Rolls high kick was taken in by Siddal’s Brad Attwood who was bundled in goal by the onrushing Mayfield attackers. The kick from under the post by Gudor was a well disguised short one collected on the 10 metre line by himself to defuse another prospective Mayfield attack! From this Siddal worked the ball down field to end with a penalty given in the 8th minute against Josh Peacock for holding to long in the tackle! No 4 Shaun Blackburn stepped up to take the two 0 – 2

It was then back to the hard slog with both sides not making much progress once in the other sides half as defences seemed to be on top up to now? However the introduction of Janan Billings in the 20th minute seemed to give Mayfield a different dimension to their play looking sharper round the play the ball.

Siddal though upped their play and on 20 minutes a well worked move with the ball going left to right the width of the field saw No 11 James Simunovich get in at the corner flag. For a few seconds the Mayfield faithful thought the touchie had spotted an infringement, but after a brief pow-wow with ref Mr Marklove the try was given! Shaun Blackburn’s kick into the swirling wind bounced off the left hand upright 0 – 6.

The next 10 minutes or more we were back to the arm wrestle until a series of penalties against Siddal gave Mayfield a chance on Siddal’s 20 metre line from where the ball was passed along the line until on 33 minutes it landed in Pete Draper’s capable hands and a neat little swerve inside and dive for the line looked to have fallen short, but there must be elastic in these Aussie lads limbs as his outstretched hand put the ball down on the line for a terrific touchdown adjacent to the upright giving Steve Gartland an easy conversion. 6 – 6

The next attack after the restart saw a wayward Siddal arm penalised for a high shot and Garts popped it over to give Mayfield the lead 8 – 6

With half time approaching Ian Sampson broke a tackle on the half way line to slip the ball out to Billings who cut through the Siddal defence like a knife through butter and unload to Steve Gartland who went in under the sticks for the touchdown. Another easy conversion by Steve saw Mayfield go in the sheds at half time 14 – 6

It didn’t take long from the kick off for Mayfield to register their next score as a high up-and-under from Paul Rolls was allowed to bounce by the Siddal defence and Chris Hilton didn’t need a second invitation to sweep the ball up and dive over the line for a poachers try. With Gartland off the pitch Tony Hilton took the kick into the strong wind which sailed wide! 18 – 6

On 45 minutes with Mayfield’s confidence now up the sustained pressure on the Siddal line ended up with Janan Billings going in from dummy half and, emulating Draper’s first half out-stretched arm, somehow just got it onto the line for a four pointer under the posts. Jon Petty successfully took the kick 24 – 6

Siddal should have scored on the 50th minute when with the line begging the Siddal lad knocked on much to the relief of the species in the stand! Again in the 55th minute a grubber was just missed by a Siddal fingertip and cleared in goal by the Mayfield defence. From the restart from under the posts Siddal passed the ball the full width of the field from left to right to substitute Pete Duggan who dived over in the corner for well deserved try! From out wide Blackburn was unable to improve 24 – 10

After regaining the ball from the kick off Gudor heaved a 40/20 to put Siddal on the attack again, but poor handling resulted in another knock on giving Mayfield some respite! On the 69th minute Siddal’s No 11 James Simeunovich and Janan Billings had a disagreement about a knee in Billings face and got a yellow card for his efforts followed by the same for Billings for retaliation! The ref wasn’t finished dealing the cards yet as only a minute later Siddal were reduced to 11 men with No7 Chris Harding walking for what I presume was talking back to the ref?

With the advantage in numbers and scoreboard now in Mayfield’s favour they proceeded to play the worst phase of football in the game with needless off-loads and spilt balls galore when basic rugby should have been the order of the day, however time was on their side and the game was mercifully brought to an end before the 11 men of Siddal could capitalise on the situation? Final score 24 – 10.

It’s games like these where a result is ground out against a resolute side who are on a roll that can be of enormous importance at the end of the season and after all……a win IS a win!

Siddal’s M.o.t.M. was Scott Law
Mayfield’s M.o.t.M was Ryan Douglas
Sponsor’s M.o.t.M was Janan Billings

Things at the top are now looking tighter with Mayfield moving up to fourth spot leap-frogging Leigh East and Skirlaugh turning over Leigh Miners at home today 08 – 21

Played Points
Leigh Miners 20 30
East Hull 21 30
Skirlaugh 20 28
Mayfield 21 27
Leigh East 20 26
Siddal 21 21

Next week see Mayfield at home in the First Round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup against Crosfield with a kick off at 2.30pm

The following week see Mayfield again at home in the next round of The National Cup against Normanton Knights.

Let’s see a good turn-out to support the lads in their quest for silverware!!!!!!