Widnes V's Hoylake Match Report

Widnes 30
Hoylake 29

With 25 minutes to go, it looked for all the world that Hoylake were going to register a hard fought and surprise victory against the league’s second placed club Widnes. However, a late rally by the home side meant that it wasn’t to be Hoylake’s day.

The visitors started impressively despite the last minute cry off of prop Steve Butterworth. Centre Chris Whiteley had to be switched to the back row as Jack Clollister reverted to his usual front row berth.

Within 5 minutes, Hoylake’s territorial advantage was converted into points as Dan Baldock timed his pass to perfection to put co-centre Richard Young into the gap to score the games first try. Brother Stephen Young converted to give Hoylake a moral boosting lead.

With the Hoylake forwards rampant, Widnes were repeatedly penalised as they struggled to defend against the visitors’ power up front. Stephen Young kicked two penalties to give his side a 13-0 lead before the hosts had even entered the Hoylake 22. To be fair, there was a considerable wind behind Hoylake, but it was their powerful running and not their territorial kicking prowess that was pegging their opponents back.

Eventually, Widnes gained some ball through Hoylake indiscipline and mistakes and first scored a try through their number 8, Hewlett after a loose kick was returned with interest by fullback, Andy Riley.

However, it was Hoylake remained on the front foot and eventually registered a 48 yard penalty from the trusty boot of Stephen Young. A combination of loose tackling and a fairly obvious block in midfield kept Widnes in touch though as Riley registered his side’s second try as Hoylake were left waiting in vain for a free kick that never came.

Not to be deterred, some strong running from Jack Collister, Phil James, the Kearney brothers and Matt O’Neill gave Hoylake some more attacking positions which resulted in 2 further penalties via the metronomic boot of fly-half, Young. Half time score, 22-10 to the visitors.

An enforced change at half time meant that Hoylake had to use their only fully fit substitute as Tom Lavin came on for the heavily concussed Mike Kearney who was having an outstanding match at fullback. Lavin went onto the wing and Dale Willis moved to his usual fullback berth.

Despite the strong wind facing them, Hoylake still managed to wok their way up field, largely thanks to the powerful bursts from the impressive props Collister and O’Neill. Eventually, it was O’Neill who crashed over the line from close range as Collister lay stricken on the ground. Young again converted giving him an 100% record with the boot on the day.

Thankfully, Collister recovered sufficiently to continue, but the remainder of the game was to be played on the back foot.

As Hoylake tired, the Widnes back 3 began to show their worth. First it was winger Gareth Riley who side stepped through the weary Hoylake defence to score a converted try. Then speedster Kevin Leadbetter showed a clean pair of heels to score in the corner. At 29-22, the writing was on the wall. In the decisive moment of the match, defensive lynch pin, Richard Young was caught flat footed and stuck out a boot to trip his opposite man. He was quite rightly sin binned and Hoylake and Leadbetter slotted the ensuing penalty. They were then left with the unlikely task of seeing out the final ten minutes with 14 men, without conceding a try.

Eventually, the inevitable happened as Leadbetter took advantage of an overlap and scored in the corner. There were strong Hoylake protestations that he was a good foot in touch before he crossed the line but the referee was not close enough to overrule the Widnes touch judge.

As it was, that was the match winning score. Arguably Widnes deserved the win for their comeback after seemingly being dead and buried but Hoylake can feel justifiably disappointed after being so close to causing a major upset.

Man of the match went to Collister for the umpteenth time this season but there were outstanding performances from all 16 players who featured. It was good to see Andy Fielding make an unexpected return to the starting line up and he performed well at number 8. Special mention should also go to Chris Whiteley who put in a tremendous display in the unfamiliar position of blind side flanker. Maybe the position will become more familiar over the next couple of matches….

Next Saturday, Hoylake entertain Sale at Melrose Avenue, hoping to register a league double over their opponents. Kick off is at 3pm.