Vale of Lune continue winning ways against Glossop

Match Report: Vale of Lune 15 Glossop 9

The first Vale home match for six weeks was in doubt due to the risk of a waterlogged pitch.

However, the elements abated sufficiently for the game to take place, although the weather refused to take this insult lying down.

It was cold, wet and windy, but this failed to dampen the spirits and enthusiasm of the players, supporters and visitors from Derbyshire. 

Having managed a convincing win against the Vale in October, Glossop may well have predicted a similar outcome. The Vale had other ideas.

With the confident bounce of a fine win away last week, the home side took control from the whistle and pressed their advantage into the Glossop 22 metre area. Persistence, safe handling and snappy passing resulted in a Sam Peters try in the right corner. It was too far wide for Chris Ramwell to find the uprights, but the marker had been laid down with purpose. 

Glossop came back strongly and sustained a period of their own pressure. Their player/coach Liam Mc Govern kicked a penalty to open their account and, after the rains came to make the ball hard to handle, McGovern added another three pointer to give the visitors a narrow lead.

The sun made a brief appearance and, like solar panels, the Vale were energised by it. Probing runs from Jordan Fern and Billy Swarbrick showed the way through and ultimately gave Ramwell another go at the posts. He slotted it home and the Vale reclaimed the lead.  

Front row reshuffles seem to be a regular feature of the Vale's strategy. Joe Stevens made way for the promising youngster James Bonia, who, in his first two minutes made six crunching, defensive tackles to keep the Glossop pack at bay. Half time came with the Vale leading by eight points to six. 

Forwards Alfie Bolton and Tim Nicholson combined in the loose exchanges to repeatedly put Glossop on the back foot.

The scrums were too hard to handle and the referee's patience ran out for the Glossop pack. A sin bin order for the Glossop number four gave the Vale a numerical advantage which allowed centre Olly Jacques to tease the defence before darting through to score under the posts.

Ramwell's boot added another two points for a nine point lead into the final quarter of the game. Tempers flared and some unsightly airing of frustrations ensued. The 'fellow in yellow' regained control and another Glossop man headed off for a restful ten minutes. 

Vale co-captain Harry Fellows, a firm favourite with the crowd, came off the bench to make his return to action after 10 weeks out injured. The tenacious Harrison Dodge replaced Sam Peters on the right wing. These changes were evidently tactical and not brought about by any player ailments. 

Glossop managed a consolation penalty kick in the dying seconds, but it made no difference to allocation of league points. The Vale ran out worthy winners and that winning momentum grows still stronger. Man of the Match was winger-turned-flanker Alfie Bolton, who was involved in every positive aspect of the Vale's performance. 

Team:     R. Pillow, O. Branford, J. Stevens, J. Harrison, T. Nicholson, A. Powers, J. Ayrton, A. Bolton, B. Swarbrick, H. Chadwick, J. Fern, O. Jacques, C. Ramwell, S. Peters, B. Walker.   Reps: J. Bonia, H. Fellows, H. Dodge.