| Waterloo | 23 |
| Broughton Park | 14 |
On a wet and blustery day in north Liverpool Park’s 1st XV faced last season’s 4th placed team Waterloo at The Memorial Ground. Park were the slower of the two sides to adapt to the weather conditions with a number of kicks failing to meet touch as they were held up by the wind. This prevented Park from relieving the early pressure exerted by Waterloo, who kept to a simple pick and go game suited to the conditions. Park’s inability to clear their lines and Waterloo’s continued pressure inevitably led to an opening score for the home side, however the conversion was missed.
As the game went into the second quarter Park began to find some of the fluency that saw them to victory against Manchester the previous week. After the pack secured quick ball for the backs Josh Maddock was put into space on the left wing, from there he beat his opposite man to dive over in the corner. Alastair Dudell on debut stepped up and sent the conversion over for the added extras to give Park the lead 5-7.
After getting themselves back into the game Park allowed Waterloo easy possession and territory as they conceded penalty after penalty. This resulted with Tom Dewland being given ten minutes in the bin allowing Waterloo to capitalise on Park’s indiscipline. Park had been aware of Waterloo’s fly half accuracy from the tee prior to the match and he duly delivered with two penalties to ensure his side went in to the break leading 11-7.
Park made an early change in the second half with Joe Noone replacing Bruce Lacey, however the latter’s rest was short as he was soon brought back on due to an injury to Chris O’Donnell. The second half began in similar fashion to the end of the first half with Park losing possession too easily and their penalty count increasing. This played into Waterloo’s hands with the home side again capitalising on Park’s mistakes to increase their lead 16-7, despite doubts regarding whether or not their winger had been put into touch before scoring.
As the clock passed the hour mark Park finally cleaned up their game up and imposed themselves on the match. Despite being nine points to the good Waterloo were rattled by the sudden improvement as Park piled on the pressure, with excellent phase play from the forwards. Their hard work paid off with Dudell crossing over, before adding the extras to narrow the scores to 16-14.
Park immediately went back on the attack sensing that they were the better side and the win was there for the taking. However, all their hard graft was undone by a miscommunication in the midfield which saw the ball go loose on the floor. Waterloo’s replacement centre was quickest to react scooping the ball up and running clear to score, with their fly-half adding the extras. This left the scores at 23-14 with less than 10 minutes remaining, much to the relief of the home crowd.
There was still time for one final incident which unfortunately saw Park’s captain Paddy O’Donnell sent off. After seeing Waterloo’s scrum half illegally putting his hands on the ball at the breakdown to slow the play down, O’Donnell put his foot on the offending hands. However, much to the disbelief of the more old school spectators, the referee took a dim view of this and the red card was shown for stamping.
While Park will be bitterly disappointed with losing a game that they felt they had a great opportunity to win, but poor decision making and discipline cost them a significant win. That being said to push a team that came fourth in the league last season away from home is an encouraging sign that Park can hope for more beyond survival this season. The defeat sees park slip back into the relegation places in 12th, two and five points behind Northwich and Manchester respectively.
Credits
Paul Metcalfe & The Author
