Match Reports

Peterborough 33 v 23 Longton 1st XV

Longton made the long journey to Peterbrough in the East of England and came away with no points after a 33-23pts. defeat.
The visitors were up against from the kick off when they had to begin the game without skipper, Tom Hughes, who was delayed by two traffic acidents as he made his own way from Lymm following a morning school commitment. Their problems were compounded after two minutes when Head Coach and talismanic forward leader, Craig Wilson was carried from the field with an ankle injury. This caused a reshuffle of the forwards with flanker, Ben Grocott, going to hooker and Liam Miles coming on into the back row; front row replacement, Mark Baker, was carrying a turned ankle from the warm up and was not risked at this stage.
Despite these early setbacks, the visitors opened the scoring when Chris Buck landed a 26m. penalty after only 3mins. The lead, however, only lasted for 4mins. as Peterbrough scored an equalising penalty in the 7th. minute.
One minute later and Chris Buck had an opportunity to put Longton back in front with a second penalty but his kick went just wide. He made amends a minute later as he put over a well struck kick to give the visitors a 6-3pts. lead.
It was clear at this early stage that Longton were going to struggle for first phase possession; the loss of Craig Wilson affected the line out throwing in particular although Ben Groccott did a sterling job in the set scrums his loss was felt in the back row where his tackling and ball carrying ability were missed.
Peterbrough went in front after 13mins. when a charged down clearance kick resulted in a 5m. scrum for the hosts from which their backs capitalised with a converted try giving their team a 10-6pts. lead.
The game was proving to be a stop start affair with the referee awarding penalties every few minutes and yet missing some obvious knock ons. Longton continued to battle with their rearranged line up and they deservedly went in front again on 16mins. when, after a series of forward drives begun by Rich Kelly, the big second row was on hand to force his way over for a fine try, well converted by Chris Buck.
Longton led by 13-10pts.
The lead lasted for 7mins. when the home side seized on a long clearance kick into their own half to launch a breakaway attack down the left wing from which a try resulted. The missed conversion put the score at 15-13pts. to Peterbrough. This went to 20-13pts. when a catch-and-drive line out drove the ball over to put the hosts 20-13pts up. The lead was cut some 2mins. later to 20-16pts. when Chris Buck drilled over a 28m. penalty. Then, in the 32nd. minute Longton had a chance to reduce the lead to a single point but Dan Robson's beautifully struck penalty from 50m. fell just under the crossbar.
Peterbrough struck a telling blow in the first minute of injury time when a quickly taken penalty caught Longton napping as they scampered over for a try and with the successful conversion they led at half time by 27-16pts.
For the second half Longton brought on skipper, Tom Hughes, into the centre to partner Frazer Kellythorne and moved Ollie Pointon onto the wing to replace Andy Green.
With Rich Kelly, Joel Booth and Fijian, John Smith, leading the charge Longton began to take the game to the home side, aided by a yellow card for Peterbrough prop, Harrison. In the next 15mins. Longton had three penalties deep in the Peterbrough "22" but opted to run the ball rather than kick for goal and on each occasion spoiled promising build ups with clumsy knock ons.
Peterbrough were finding Longton's reorganised back line more difficult to penetrate as Tom Hughes brought more bite into the midfield defence. However, they put another 3 points onto their score in the 20th. minute of the 2nd. half with a penalty to make the score 30-16pts.
Peterbrough lost influential second row forward and former Northampton player, John Phillips, to a leg injury and this seemed to deflate the home side but by now the game looked safe, especially after a further penalty in the 38th. minute. 
Longton had one final flourish when Dan Robson harried his opposite number into a mistake at the base of a set scrum. John Smith took advantage and picked up the loose ball; the powerful Fijian barged through two defenders to plunge over for the try and with Chris Buck's successful conversion this took the final score to 33-23pts. to the home side.
Undoubtedly, a game of what might have been. Craig Wilson's loss after 2mins. and Tom Hughes delayed arrival through no fault of his own clearly were most significant factors as their presence throughout would almost certainly have given Longton the edge.
Next week will be another tough test with high flying Luton coming to Trentham Fields. The possible loss of both first choice hookers, Craig Wilson and the already injured George Glenn, will pose some selection problems.

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