LYMM drew 15-15 at a Huddersfield YMCA team still smarting from an 80-3 drubbing on their previous outing at National League Three North leaders Sheffield Tigers.

Having beaten Waterloo, currently occupying second place in League National Three North, a fortnight ago Lymm were entitled to a degree of cautious optimism and they were dominant early on.

Jake Ashall made two line breaks to initiate the visitors' first attacks and the reward was a penalty attempt into the wind by Richard McEvoy, which just drifted wide.

Centre Tom Bray made a break which set up the next attack but this faltered due to handling errors, the first of many to become a feature of the wet afternoon for both teams.

After seven minutes HY got into the Lymm half but the defence was solid and forced a knock on.

Then, the first scrum of the match foretold difficulties that Lymm were to endure throughout the remainder of the first half when they were driven backwards and off the ball despite having the advantage of the feed.

Fortunately pressure was relieved by driving the HY winger into touch and Lymm then showed their lineout superiority with Alex Kaihau prominent as both catcher and strategist.

This gave Tom Bray the chance to cross the gain line and McEvoy's kick and chase deep into HY territory brought a penalty.

Believing in the strength of their lineout Lymm opted for the kick to touch in the corner then a catch and driving maul but this was spoiled by an overzealous Lymm player joining the maul from the side giving HY a relieving penalty.

There were rare moments when a bit of individual flare lit up the gloom that descended on the game despite the floodlights.

One such moment was a good carry by Ashall crossing the gain line to set up a promising attack, but spoiled by another careless mistake and penalty to HY.

Lymm were then reduced to 14 men when Zac Lythgoe was given a yellow card for a foul tackle.

This made scrummaging problems even more acute but despite their numerical advantage HY posed little threat from their greater amount of possession.

This was largely attributable to Lymm's determined defence.

With five minutes left before half time and Lymm back to full strength HY gained a penalty and from an easy position kicked for goal and took a three-point lead.

Dan Horton was replaced by Mike Auden in the front row but nothing happened to excite a good crowd of spectators before, some might say, the half was brought mercifully to a close.

Within a few minutes of the restart HY gained possession from a turn over following, at last, a much better Lymm scrum.

Their attack directed towards the right corner was well defended but they kept possession and the HY fly half astutely put in a high kick to the left corner to give his winger an unopposed try.

Fortunately for Lymm it was too wide out in the face of the elements for any chance of adding the conversion. Lymm responded by gaining near parity at the scrums, being a bit sharper at the rucks and retaining their good quality lineout work.

More possession tested HY to the extent that they had a forward given a yellow card and Lymm were awarded a comfortable penalty for McEvoy to put his team on the scoreboard at 8-3.

The game continued to be error strewn but Lymm appeared to have the edge with more possession.

A good carry by skipper Adam Bray set up Ollie Lancaster to sprint through a gap and get a try in a relatively easy position for McEvoy to add the conversion, putting Lymm ahead for the first time.

Lymm were now looking a better bet for a much needed away win but both teams continued to play in a largely uninspired, undisciplined and erratic manner.

With 10 minutes remaining McEvoy produced an enormously long kick from his own half.

The ball flew close and parallel to the touchline heading for the HY ‘in goal’ area.

The leading chaser was Richard Halford whose long legs give him a deceptive turn of speed.

At the end of a 60-metre sprint Halford calmly dotted the ball down for a try, sensibly opting not to attempt running nearer to the posts leaving McEvoy with a too difficult kick but at 15-8 it made that away win look a good prospect.

Ollie Higginson, not long after entering the fray, received a yellow card with less than five minutes remaining.

Further Lymm indiscipline helped HY to establish themselves close to the Lymm line and after a succession of scrums and mauls they scored the inevitable try close to the Lymm posts, leaving it easy for the last kick of the game to secure a draw.

Lymm: Dan Horton, Ross White, Nick Ashton, Zak Lythgoe, Alex Kaihau, Jack Harper, Jake Ashall, Adam Bray, Chris Owen, Ollie Lancaster, Richard Halford, Tom Bray, Giles Dugdale, Richard McEvoy, Joe Knowles, Mike Auden, Mark Wells, Ollie Higginson.