Scunthorpe 11
Lymm 19

LYMM’S National League Three Midlands survival bid took a boost with a Cormac Nolan inspired second half comeback at Scunthorpe on Saturday.

The absence of big-tackling Tim Oakes and Tom Darbyshire for Lymm was offset by the welcome return from injury of captain Ollie Higginson.

Lymm beat Scunthorpe 38-24 in September, but both sides have struggled since, and the visitors gave an early indication of their attacking potential.

A sweeping move with speed and assured handling was only thwarted when Matthew Barnes-Smith was tackled into touch short of the line.

Scunthorpe dominated possession from scrums for the rest of the half, further assisted by Lymm errors in dealing with the long high kicks which were the hosts’ main attacking tactic.

A try-saving cover tackle by Higginson led to a scrum, but Scunthorpe won possession and were awarded a penalty to kick for the lead under the posts as desperate Lymm defenders ventured offside.

Scunthorpe forced more errors from Lymm, increasing their lead to six points, despite occasional gain-line breaking forays from Adam Bray and Higginson.

Lymm failed to make the most of centre Giles Dugdale’s break for the line, as overeager support ended in a penalty giving welcome relief to the hosts. Scunthorpe stole the lineout and mounted a driving maul to score an unconverted try before the break.

Lymm quickly got into their stride after the interval with breaks from Adam Bray and Sion Williams, eventually allowing Nolan to go over and add the extras from a difficult angle.

Ball retention and patient build ups frustrated Scunthorpe and yielded another gratefully accepted penalty shot for Nolan.

The Scunthorpe number eight was then sin-binned for a succession of technical offences, giving Lymm the numerical advantage.

Again from 45 metres Nolan stepped up to add to his growing points tally and to put Lymm into a well-deserved five-point lead.

The final reward was yet another Nolan penalty to leave him as the sole scorer with a 19-point tally.

Coach Chris Kinsey said: "I wish I could remember everything that I said at half time, because whatever it was it worked brilliantly.”

Lymm: Jordan Widdrington, Dan Houghton, Joe Cooper, Sion Williams, James Yates, Ollie Higginson, Kieron Williams, Adam Bray, Tom Baker, Joe Knowles, Cormac Nolan, Tom Bray, Giles Dugdale, Matthew Barnes-Smith, Andy Rowley. Subs Steve McEvoy, Harvey McCormack, Adam Fletcher.