Trafford MV maintained their unbeaten start to the season. They went to Glossop on another warm and sunny Sunday afternoon, this week with only 12 fit players but again ground out a win that keeps them at the top of the table with 4 wins from 4 (but it will be nice to have a starting XV available again soon!). A closely contested first half ended with MV just holding the upper hand at 14 – 17. In the second half Glossop failed to make the most of their extra man advantage and MV took control, showing more of a threat in attack coupled with some strong defending.
Glossop opened the scoring with a try scored out wide that outstretched the 12 men of MV, but that was probably the only time that they really managed to put enough width on the ball to get round the MV defence. Joe Gray soon bundled his way over for his first try after a cheeky No 9 quick tap penalty had gained another 10 yards for not retreating and there was no stopping Gray at pace when the ball was popped up for him. Then Gally found himself on the receiving end of a pass out wide to cut through and score in the corner. But Moose was clearly having a bad day at the office with his first 2 conversion attempts. Glossop came back with a second try after Gally got isolated and caught trying to muscle his own counter attack only to have the ball turned over, which Glossop took grateful advantage of despite nearly messing it up and almost getting caught on their way to the open line. But the first half was closed out by a fine solo try from Monk who cut in off his wing and glided through the Glossop defence to score under the posts. This time Moose kicked the extra points, blasting the ball between the posts, over the road and into the horse field just for good measure. Half time score: 14 – 17 to the visitors.
MV started the second half determined to finish the job and Gray soon bagged his second try. Davenport had put in a clever kick to touch ending up inside the Glossop 5 meter line and from the resulting lineout MV stole the ball, with Gray eventually finding the gap and charging through. But Glossop came straight back again and scored at the other end after setting up 4 or 5 drives and rucks which sucked in the MV defence. At 21 – 24 it was still a close game, but MV stepped it up a gear, first with Gaz Bevan cutting his way through and then from a long kick and chase downfield, MV turned the ball over and Joe Gray barged his way through for his hat-trick with a 20 yard charge and run around to score under the posts. Moose kicked the conversion before going off with a suspected broken little finger, leaving his team mates to see out the last 2-3 minutes of the game.
Final score: 21 – 36 and a deserved win for MV. Thanks to Glossop who never gave up and played the game in good spirit. And thanks to Mr Joe Brown who ensured that the Colts League Code of Conduct was respected and upheld throughout.
Andrew Lord, Trafford MV
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