Jonny Cross celebrates Burnage's narrow win over Didsbury Toc H with some incredibly long sentences below.
Looking back over the records I can see that the last time Burnage 2’s were beaten was at the hands of Stockport 3’s in the league last January, the 31st to be exact.
The visit of local rivals Didsbury TOC H was arguably the closes this Burnage side has been pushed since then, the last encounter was a difficult affair with Burnage coming out 13-5 winners.
This could have been a massive banana skin for the lads, not by underestimating the opponents; moreover the chance to beat the team on-top and a chance of local bragging rights – having said that there was a certain difference, a ‘je ne sais quoi’ if you will, from the last time...
Burnage started slowly allowing the pressure that was mounting from the TOC forwards to dictate the play. Uncharacteristically, the Burnage front 5 were well off the pace being second to the breakdown again allowing the TOC forward to turn-over possession well. Take nothing away from TOC, they are a much improved side and will, like Wirral and more recently Trafford MV are proving; hard to beat.
Not to be beaten out the resilience of the forwards showed and with a power surge deep in the TOC 22, Max Fox-Lenard came up with the score under the posts 7-0.
The Burnage pace players got into the game, released from Adi Sullivan at 10 and once again strong running from Andy Ascroft and Ben Robertson forced the ball out wide yet man of the moment Chris Higgins ‘showed’ and again ‘goad-(possibly 'went') it-alone’ to dive over for 3 tries in 4 games, it must be said that there were a few chances for Burnage prior to this with some ‘white-line fever’ stopping any scores... guilty parties in the forwards and backs...
2 penalties brought TOC back into the game before the break – 12-6 at the break
A change after the half brought Mark Lyons in at fly-half, Mark did get some recognition this week, not for his passing nor his strong running or even for a bone crunching tackle; no Dr. Lyons was sick, sick from the copious amounts of alcohol someone “spiked his drink with”, I will leave you to make your own conclusions... JC ‘BS’ Award for this week, well done Mark!
The game wasn’t done by a long stretch, as TOC piled on the pressure wave after wave of attack the Burnage defence stood strong, it seemed that it was only a matter of time before TOC broke the line to score, but with a misplaced kick, Burnage took advantage and returned with interest allowing Lyons the penalty 15-6.
Again TOC were not to be undeterred, scoring a penalty for...erm... well, I’m not sure but one man did... 15-9 with 10 mins to go.
TOC were kicking most of their possession away aiming to play in the Burnage half understandably, but that was good news for a Burnage back 3, with Mike Filson retuning with his monstrous/angry boot. A misplaced kick again from the TOC fly-half set Cross off on a mazy run only to be halted abruptly, but with quick ball from supporting players allowed Robertson to offload to Lyons for a well earn’t try for the team. Only a further penalty before the finish brought a little tension back but that was understandable due to the strength and quality of the opposition.
A well fought battle and a successful test won 20-12, an improvement will be required for this weekend. ‘A bientot’ JC
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