Depleted Gannets tough it out on the field of dreams

Things were looking rosy for the Gannets at the beginning of the week.

With 20 players confirmed Captain Ben had contacted Leigh and they agreed to the extra replacements to ensure everyone got a game.Then a raft of withdrawals including Steve Wootton (hammy),Matt Clarke (knee),Ian Shuttlewood (fingernail),big Darius (work) and Sam Holden (unknown) forced Ben into a reshuffle,most noticeably at centre where Paddy and Aaron stepped in.The team however,still looked strong as they.looked to build on their excellent win over Old Wills.

Due to Leighs lack of front row,uncontested scrums were necessary and the early exchanges were scrappy and played out largely in the middle of the park with both teams turning the ball over to one another.Then on 20 minutes some good work from the pack set Andy Hampshire free.His powerful run and pass setting Jon Sargent free and the prop easily outpaced the leigh 14 to score under the posts.

After a short delay to the restart due to what appeared to be a large rodent entering the field of play,Leigh were pressuring the Gees line.
The loss of Andy Hampshire to a hamstring was a major blow and Leigh immediately took advantage by powering over the line for an unconverted try.

Another score followed shortly after,this time through the Leigh backs as they took advantage of some static defending and poor tackling to cross the line to the left of the posts.Again,a kickable conversion went wide....would they regret these missed opportunities at the final whistle we wondered.

Half time 10-7.

Leigh started the second period as they finished the first,on the front foot,mixing the play up well between forwards and backs and the Gees were soon back defending around their 22.Some slack play in the Leigh backs gifted the ball to the Gannets and a great turn of speed from Ollie Karabardak enabled him to slip the ball to Vid who cantered in for the try under the posts,arguably against the run of play.Aaron Rayner slotted the straightforward kick for 10-14.

The Gannets had now awoken from their temporary slumber and were starting to get the better of the exchanges.Their next score though wasn't the result of team play but individual brilliance.Aaron took the ball midfield,surrounded by opponents and with seemingly nowhere to go.A couple of sidesteps here and a turn of pace there saw him beat pretty much the whole Leigh defence to score in the corner.His exertions had clearly taken its toll on his legs though as the on target conversion fell short.10-19.

The Gees could have been forgiven for thinking that they'd finally broken the Leigh resistance but this was most definitely the case as they pushed and probed to get back into the game.Some excellent tackling from Matt Abbott in particular keeping the home team at bay but two scores soon followed.The first being in the far corner from this match reporters vantage point so I couldn't possibly comment on any further and the second as the Leigh inside centre took advantage of a missed tackle to score next to the posts.
Both tries however remained unconverted meaning the Gannets were still very much in the game at 20-19.

Another midfield stalemate ensued from the restart with both teams cancelling each other out until a penalty was conceded by Leigh midway inside their half,directly in front of the posts.Aaron Rayner stepped up,kicked the 3 points and the game was seen out for a 20-22 victory.

As is often the case with the Gannets who often put in a total team performance win or lose,it's tough to pick an individual who stood out above all others.It could have been Aaron Rayner for his points and his superb individual score.It might have been Matt Abbott for never missing a tackle all day.It might have been Ian Shuttlewood but he didn't play.The player that edged it today was Gary 'Paddy' Curran.He started the game at centre then stepped in at second row and created havoc amongst the Leigh pack,disrupting play and nicking the ball at every opportunity.It's almost like his beard has Samson like qualities.The more luxuriant it gets,the better he plays.I reckon if it gets to full ZZ top then he's gonna play like Paul O'Connell.If he shaves it,he's playing like Paul O'Grady.

A big thanks to the Leigh boys for providing the Gannets with a post game slab of Fosters.It most certainly made the queue for the two portakabin showers that bit more bearable.

That's it from the housewives favourite social rugby team for 2014.

Until 2015..