Bateman BMW Premiership

Macclesfield 2nd  14 pts   Sedgley Park 2nd  21 pts

Sedgley Park were expecting a competitive game at Macclesfield, and they got one. Midway through the first half the home side were 14-3 ahead and dominating the forward battle.

Their lead could have been greater as they had missed three early penalty shots at goal, using three different kickers, oddly. Sedgley led 3-0 through Steve Nutt’s successful kick and were then denied a try by an outstanding tackle.

It came as no surprise when the Macclesfield pack rumbled over for the first try, converted by their first-choice kicker. Sedgley blew a good chance by missing touch with a penalty kick aimed at the corner and, moments later, following a penalty the other way, Macclesfield stole away for a try up the narrow side; the touchline conversion was successful.

Sedgley were struggling up front to the extent of losing a scrum even when Macc had a forward in the bin, though his offence had presented Nutt with his second simple goal; 14-6. Gradually Park began to win more ball. The home backs tackled particularly well but eventually Chris Leader scored in the corner from Nutt’s neat little pass. 14-11 to Macclesfield at half-time.

Sedgley were coming more strongly into the game, and aggressive tackling led to the penalty that levelled the scores. Another kickable chance was bravely turned down, and a solid line-out and drive created the space for stand-off Nutt to score on the narrow side. His conversion bounced in off the post ….or didn’t, depending on point of view, but the goal stood.

Sedgley were beginning to play with their familiar style and might have been expected to pull away in the last quarter. However, the final twenty minutes were niggly and shambolic, and the full-time whistle came as a relief.

There were those among the SP travelling support who thought this a poor performance and a dreadful game.

Please remember that we were without four members of the full-strength pack (Greenhalgh, Smith, Leigh, Lamprey) and that Dominic Köhler, who has been pulling the strings in the backs, was also sidelined.

And that Macclesfield had a streetwise pack who gave our youngsters some problems; and not every team is going to lie down against us like a swarm of dead insects.

What it does mean is that following Manchester’s defeat last week we now have an even stronger grip on the Bateman BMW Premiership. With 9 games remaining for Sedgley, the top now looks like this…

             Pl Pt
1.Sedgley    19 73
2.Fylde      21 69
3.Waterloo   20 61
4.Manchester 18 61

…..and it’s 4 points for a win, 2 for a draw and 1 for turning up. So Manchester can still finish with 101 points. Our maximum is 109 so (given our superior points difference) we can afford to drop 8 points, which equates to 2 defeats + 1 draw.

Next Saturday we play West Park, at home. They lost only 24-8 to the Stockport side who had beaten Manchester the previous week, so it could be a good game. We played pretty well to beat West Park 27-0, away, in appalling conditions a few weeks ago.