Rossendale 50 Lymm 26

LYMM were unable to make it back-to-back wins after slipping to defeat at Rossendale in National League Three North on Saturday.

The visitors kicked off with the slope and breeze in their favour and all was set for a close encounter.

The early exchanges saw the pattern of the game set; with Rossendale using the hard-running back-row duo of Collins and McKibbin to look for holes in the Lymm defence and Lymm utilising the back line to search for a way through Rossendale.

Lymm drew first blood when good hands through the backs found Giles Dugdale in space to go over between the posts.

The visitors, perhaps a little too confident, saw a backs move intercepted to enable Rossendale to canter over from the half-way line.

A penalty followed and after 15 minutes Rossendale were 10-7 up.

Rossendale began to gain the upper hand in terms of possession and it was taking two or three Lymm tacklers to hold the Rossendale surges.

Only mistakes, particularly from close in lineouts and last-ditch Lymm defending was preventing Rossendale from adding to the lead.

Just before the half hour one such desperate last ditch tackle from Joe Knowles saw him yellow-carded for not rolling away. The lineout was again butchered by Rossendale but they were now clearly in the ascendancy and the pressure finally told with the home team creating an overlap to score.

Steve Nutt who kicked well all day for the opposition added the conversion to take the score to 17-7.

Things were beginning to look ominous for Lymm But against the run of play a great break from Tom Bray, who looked dangerous all day, was fed to Oli Lancaster to score between the posts to take the half-time score to 17-14 and make the game still very much alive.

The local view at half-time was that the slope was worth 10-points to Rossendale, how Lymm would have settled for that.

Any prospect of a close contest evaporated in the first ten-minutes of the re-start.

For all their profligacy in the first half, Rossendale were ruthless in the second half. Mike Auden came on at half-time and was yellow carded for dragging down a maul.

Collins for Rosendale went over from the subsequent penalty. It was then McKibbin’s turn as he ran the virtual width of the 22-metre area without any Lymm player laying a hand on him, eventually going over to score.

On the 10-minute mark worse followed when Joe Knowles picked up a second yellow card for a high tackle and thus saw red and Lymm were down to 14 men.

To add insult to injury from the ensuing penalty Rossendale played a neat cross kick to score.

36-14 to Rossendale, Lymm were shell shocked.

To their credit Lymm came back and started to throw the ball about with Zak Lythgoe and Tom Bray prominent.

The remainder of the game was played out with both sides taking it in turns to score, with the industrious Ross White and Rick Halford crossing for Lymm to at least secure a bonus point.

Lymm have only won once at Rossendale back in North West One days.

But despite the nightmare score there were positives, the set piece worked well, particularly Kaihau in the line-out and as always Lymm looked good with ball in hand.

Lymm were poor without the ball, losing the physical battle and being unable to cope with the power of the Rossendale back-row.

Coach Fletcher was un-available for comment but the long post-match analysis on the pitch afterwards told the story.

Next up for Lymm is Waterloo at home, who recorded a surprise victory over run-away league leaders Sheffield Tigers.

Lymm: Jordan Widdrington, Dan Horton, Nick Ashton, Zak Lythgoe, Alex Kaihau, Ross White, Jake Ashall, Adam Bray (C), Tom Shard, Ollie Lancaster, Mark Wells, Tom Bray, Giles Dugdale, Richard McEvoy, Joe Knowles, Mike Auden, Aaron Rasheed, Richard Halford.

Lymm 2nd 83 Stockport 2nd 7

AFTER just over 20 minutes of the first half the game was effectively over with Lymm having scored six tries through Cormac Nolan, three, Ollie Thornton, James Yates, and Rob Makin, with Nolan converting four 38-0.

Stockport had no answer to the combination of Lymm’s strong running forwards, linking up through half-backs Tom Baker and Rhys Jones to their pacey back division.

Further tries were scored before half-time by Tom Baker and Mike Gough, with Nolan converting both.

Half-time 52-0.

With the luxury of three replacements, Lymm interchanged players throughout the match, giving everyone a good amount of game-time.

As there was an excess of forwards, this resulted in hooker Rob Makin playing the second half on the wing and back-row forwards playing in the three-quarters.

Even though Lymm’s intensity diminished in the second-half, five more tries were scored by Greg Robertson, Jack Harper, winger Rob Makin, Baker and Jones, with Nolan converting three.

To their credit Stockport never tried to concede the battle, or revert to foul play through frustration, and got their consolation converted try with 10 minutes left on the clock.

Full-time 83-7.

Next week Lymm play Waterloo away in the league.

Lymm: D Ghent, R Makin, O Askew, A Halford (Capt), J Yates, M Hill, J Harper, G Robertson, T Baker, R Jones, O Thornton, K Williams, J Warton, R Forrest, C Nolan, J Long, S Butler, M Gough.

Marple 2nd 34 Lymm 3rd 5. 

Lymm senior under 18s colts 0 Caldy 51.

Wirral 3 Lymm under 17s colts  43.