Ashton-on-Mersey v's Hoylake - Match Report

Ashton On Mersey 8
Hoylake 15

Report by Andy Fielding

On a dull wet day Hoylake travelled to newly promoted Ashton-on-Mersey who have had a similar start to Hoylake but who notably registered an impressive victory over Bowden in their opening match.

The game kicked off with Ashton playing down the slight slope on an otherwise immaculate pitch. Straight from the kick off, Skipper Steve Young kicked straight into touch. However that actually signalled a period of sustained pressure from Hoylake after taking the resulting scrum against the head.

Hoylake played through the phases and some excellent direct running from forwards Philip James, Matt O’ Neil and influential number 8 Rob Kurton resulted in pressure on the Ashton 22. Ashton struggled to come to terms with the direct running and limited themselves to a tactical kicking game that was largely dealt with by the Hoylake back three, steadied by the competent return of veteran winger Ben Flint.

Finally the pressure told and Hoylake took a lead through a Stephen Young penalty. However this seemed to wake up Ashton and they put some pressure on the Hoylake lineout following some poor clearance kicks by the visiting defence. The situation was further compounded by the loss of James after 20 minutes to a hamstring injury.

After Ashton had levelled the game with a penalty of their own, it looked like it was going to be a tough day at the office for Hoylake.
On 30 minutes play became scrappy and resulted in some loose play on the floor and as Ashton pushed into Hoylake territory, they eventually went over in the corner, but Ashton’s poor day with the boot continued as they missed the conversion.

Half time –Ashton 8 Hoylake 3

In the second period, Hoylake’s pack began to reassert their dominance around the park and with the referee beginning to spot the Ashton backs encroaching, Hoylake were on the front foot. Young began to find gaps with some simple moves seeing the returning Dan Balldock piercing the now tired defence line. After a lineout steal by the industrious Tom Corkhill, Young made one of his trademark breaks powering through the weakening defence to score near to the posts. He converted his own try to give Hoylake a slender 10-8 lead with still 25 minutes on the clock.

The visitors continued to dominate though and following a strong run out of defence from Kurton following a great interchange with Flint, Hoylake were camped on the Ashton line for several phases, ultimately resulting in a yellow card to the Ashton flanker for persistent infringements. Finally, a flicked ball at the base of the scrum from Kurton to scrum half, Selby-Milic, created the overlap for Flint to squeeze in at the corner. Conversion missed, so Hoylake were still in touching distance at 15-8.

However, the visitors showed determined spirit and the likes of Matt O’ Hanlon, Jake Woods and Guy Byatt were tremendous around the park keeping hold of possession for the now dangerous Hoylake backs to use.
Hoylake then continued to press and missed two penalties of their before Ashton finally exerted some pressure in the dying minutes of the game. The Hoylake pack dug deep though and repelled their hosts’ forward drives, but conceded several penalties in the process.

Substitute prop, Butterworth, was sin binned as Ashton made one final push but some poor handling finally gave the game to Hoylake after more than 5 minutes injury time.

Not a vintage performance by Hoylake but a welcome 4 points gained on the road, against potentially difficult opponents. The reshuffled pack deserved considerable praise as they largely dominated proceedings. The back row worked well and looked strong in defence whilst the front three were powerful with ball in hand. The backs played their part, once they had come to terms with the greasy conditions in the second half.

All in all, this was a satisfying win that was hard fought against a team that will no doubt beat teams when they are playing at home. Hoylake will just have to work hard on adding points to pressure.

Next week, Hoylake entertain Widnes at Melrose Avenue.

Tries Steve Young, Ben Flint
Cons Steve Young (1)
Pens Steve Young (1)