Eccles and Salford 26

By Michael Ward

SHAW Cross Sharks belied their lowly league position with a battling display against National Conference League Division Two leaders Eccles and Salford.

The Sharks began well and constantly forced their opponents back through clever kicking and quick tackling. Despite this there were basic errors from both sides, Eccles’ Anthony Murray making the worst when his forward pass prevented centre Andrew Muscat from scoring.

This pattern of play meant the opening try was always likely to come from a mistake and so it proved midway through the first half.

Mike O’Boyle’s fumble was picked up by Sharks full-back Pat Foulstone, who ran through unchallenged to score between the posts. Foulstone converted and the scoreline reflected the hosts’ dominance.

Eccles slowly grew into the match and began to have spells of pressure but at the other end, Andy Fawkes, Graham Nash and John Rourke went close to extending the Sharks lead.

Better build-up saw Marc Jones cross for an Eccles try which was converted yet the Sharks continued to have the better of the play.

This was until Andrew Bottomley knocked-on with just minutes to half-time. From the following set Jones claimed his second try.

The Sharks’ confidence was badly affected by this late blow and the number of errors made in this period nearly proved costly.

Pressure down the Sharks’ right just before the break saw Martin Judge release the impressive Antony Murray, who was denied by a great tackle by Foulstone.

The Sharks hung on to trail 12-6 and with a downhill second half to play, had hopes of the most unlikely of victories.

Shaw Cross raised those hopes further with an energetic start to the second half and a penalty was confidently dispatched by Foulstone.

Joint coach Ash Fothergill made a welcome return, having stepped off a plane from Australia just a few hours before kick-off, and he was well supported by Chris Jones, Kevin Dickens, Adam Brummitt and Dave Hudson.

They continued to attack in search of the try that would draw them level and it was the desire to do this too quickly that was the Sharks’ undoing in the 57th minute.

With the ball deep in the Eccles half, a fumble led to Martin Judge running the length of the field to score between the posts. A woeful conversion miss kept the Sharks in the game at 16-8.

Yet their only poor 10 minutes of the match saw them lose two further tries from O’Boyle and Ben Williams, together with a conversion, which gave Eccles a 26-8 lead.

Cross never gave up and got the try their hard work deserved when man-of-the-match Foulstone touched down and converted.

It is a measure of the Sharks’ performance that for an hour it was hard to tell which team led the table and who were second-bottom.

Shaw Cross: Foulstone; Mitchell, Chandler, Masson, Bottonley; Fawkes, Naughton; Dickens, Rourke, Jones, Brummitt, Hudson, Nash.