MAYFIELD WIN IN STYLE
March 2nd, 2010 | by Simon |ROCHDALE Mayfield cruised to victory against Thornhill Trojans at Castleton Sports Centre on Saturday.
And, while many will point to an abject display by the visitors, this was due mainly to Mayfield’s no-nonsense defence and, at times, electrifying attacking play.
Inspired by a superb platform provided by their hard-running forwards - despite the early loss of Andrew Moroney with a mouth injury - the home team’s half-back pairing of Lee Atkinson and Eamon Hillen had the Thornhill defence at sixes and sevens throughout the afternoon. This provided an entertaining spectacle for the home support with slick handling, straight running and clinical finishing, including a hat trick for winger John Foy, bringing nine tries.
But, while this was a good performance, it wasn’t a perfect one. Mayfield still have a tendency to force the play when a more patient approach is sometimes needed. They also give away too many penalties, which against a better team may prove costly.
Mayfield posted their intent in the second minute, Hillen chipping over the top and winning the chase to touch down.
Four minutes later, Hillen turned provider, his jinking run setting up Foy for his first try.
A third could have followed when Aidy Gleeson exploded through the middle. He should have backed himself to make it all the way to the line, but his wayward pass went to ground.
Mayfield were then guilty of trying too hard, attempting impossible offloads or over-ambitious passes, making it easy for the under-pressure Thornhill defence.
The one thing, though, the hosts were doing well was tackle and when a big hit dislodged the ball on the visitors’ 22 Foy jinked his way through to score.
The floodgates opened and two minutes later Tod O’Brien eagerly accepted Ben Simpson’s offload and slipped the ball to Steve Wood. He drew the cover whipped the ball out to Hillen, who nipped in for what was probably one of Mayfield’s best tries of the season. Hillen converted.
Mayfield’s tails were up and when fullback Mark Hodgson spilled Hillen’s high kick Foy was on hand to scoop up the ball and scoot in for his hat trick. Hillen added the extras for a 24-0 interval lead.
No doubt the talk in the Thornhill dressing room at half time was to salvage some pride, but that fell by the wayside in the second minute, Wayne Jopson’s dummy wrong-footing his markers and he strolled in for a try. Hillen converted.
Mayfield were again dominant but careless errors and daft penalties gave the visitors some respite.
But, on the hour-mark, Hillen and Atkinson again combined; the latter’s well-timed pass creating space for Sean Snape to squeeze in out wide.
Simpson was proving a handful for Thornhill, his bullocking run allowing Snape, Hillen and Atkinson to turn on the style for Simon Moore to apply the finishing touch. Hillen converted.
There was still time for O’Brien to sneak in from close range, Aidy Gleeson’s conversion completing the scoring.
Mayfield coach Sam Butterworth will be pleased with what was an excellent team performance, particularly the defensive effort, which made for a one-sided match. He won’t, though, be getting carried away and knows there is still work to do in the remaining four matches.
Rochdale Mayfield: Kershaw, Snape, Wood, Sampson, Foy, Atkinson, Hillen, Coombes, O’Brien, Brett, Matty Moore, Moroney, Gleeson, Biggins, Simon Moore, Jopson, Simpson.
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