So a close outcome was envisaged and that is how it turned out, particularly as the wet and windy conditions worked against Sedgley’s flowing style of rugby.

Sedgley had the advantage of the strong wind and the pitch’s slope in the opening half and soon created the first chance.

Stand off Dominic Kohler put in a perfect kick to the corner for Henry Monsell to chase, but the winger slipped and knocked-on when he looked certain to score.

Sedgley then began to concede needless penalties, but fortunately Stockport’s first attempt at goal drifted wide.

Sedgley have thrived all season by unexpectedly counter attacking from deep and this was another such occasion.

Centre and captain Sion O’Hare caught Stockport unawares by running out the missed kick. His centre partner Tom Albinson kept the momentum going by making a terrific break from his own 22 and he reached the opponent’s 22 before he was finally stopped.

However, Sedgley’s support arrived on time and the fantastic break out was finished off by flanker Chris Leader who scored an unconverted try in the corner to give Sedgley the lead 0-5 after 10 minutes play.

Stockport soon got two penalty chances to hit back. They missed one but kicked the second to make the score 3-5.

From the restart Sedgley put Stockport under pressure again and a missed clearing kick to touch was run back by Phil Largan.

Having zipped and sashayed his way through the Stockport defence, the fullback had a clear run to the try line. Unfortunately the referee failed to play advantage and bizarrely brought play back to give Sedgley a penalty.

Fortunately Sedgley didn’t waste the good attacking position. From a splendid line-out catch and drive by the forwards, flanker Leader scored his second unconverted try to extend Sedgley’s lead to 3-10 after 25 minutes play.

From the restart Stockport immediately kicked another penalty to reduce Sedgley’s lead to 6-10. This was followed by enterprising play by both sides.

The Sedgley forwards again showed their mauling prowess by driving their fullback a good 25 metres, but as was to happen on several occasions their ball handling let them down when a score looked on the cards.

Then, for the only time in the match, Stockport broke through the Sedgley defensive wall with the ball in their hand. It came about from a turnover at a ruck, and the powerful run by a Stockport forward into the Sedgley half, from his own 22, was only stopped by a determined tackle by the last line of defence.

In the final minutes of the half Kohler kicked a penalty to increase Sedgley lead to 6-13. Then Stockport lost the ball when they opted to run it out of their own 22 instead of putting in a clearing kick to touch. Quick passing along the line gave Luke Wooley the chance and the flanker shrugged off the marking defender to score. With Kohler converting the try, Sedgley led at half time 6-20.

At the start of the second half the wind got even stronger and the rain started an unceasing downpour. So Sedgley were certainly facing all the elements and Stockport intelligently exploited them to the full.

Their game plan was simple and was well executed. At every opportunity they put in a huge kick down the field so that the game would be played deep into the Sedgley half. Their tactics immediately paid dividends when Sedgley’s full back failed to control the rolling ball and Stockport capitalised on the error to score a converted try to reduce Sedgley’s lead to 13-20.

On only one more occasion did another kick lead to Stockport breaking out of the stranglehold Sedgley had on the game.

A hacked kick by Stockport penetrated the defensive line and O’Hare saved the day for Sedgley by bravely smothering the ball at the feet of the onrushing Stockport players.

Thereafter Sedgley coped well with Stockport’s kicking game. They stopped conceding needless penalties and their lineout, well orchestrated by Andrew Clegg, functioned admirably in the tricky conditions.

With a plentiful supply of ball, they made break after break from their own half, with Phil Largan and second rowers Clegg and Dean Williams to the fore.
However, they could not finish off the openings they created. That was mainly due to Stockport’s resolute defence by their entire team, and particularly when defending line outs close to their try line.

It was also partly because Sedgley couldn’t consistently retain the very slippery ball in contact. Consequently, being only one converted try behind, the resilient Stockport team always remained in this closely contested and hard fought game.

Five minutes from the end of an exciting match the Sedgley forwards showed great patience and control to score the clinching try.

They repeatedly hammered the Stockport line with a series of pick-and-drives until prop Leyton Taylor eventually crashed over to secure a hard fought win for Sedgley against determined opposition who were certainly up for this match against the league leaders, with Kohler supplying the extras.