Croesyceiliog 22 Mountain Ash 8
12 November 2005
Croesyceiliog gave easily their best performance of the season to overcome Mountain Ash 22-8. This was a far more confident display and brought the long awaited first home win of the season.
The Cockerels pack meant business from the start and had the opposition under early pressure in the scrum. The lineout was also impressive and after one drive they took play from the 22 over the try line but were just held up. The referee brought play back for a Croesy penalty which they kicked to touch on the 5 metre line. From the resultant line out they again drove over the line but this time prop Marc Watkins managed to ground the ball. Matthew Entwistle converted from wide out to give the Cockerels an early 7-0 lead.
Mountain Ash came back with a penalty as the home team lost their early dominance for a while. But as the half wore on they grew in confidence again and put some excellent phases of play together. After one such passage of play in which prop Justin Smith, having his best game of the season, and Larry Williams were heavily involved, the ball eventually found its way to hooker Anthony Axford on the wing. His slight of hand fooled the defence leaving him with a clear run to the line, to give the Cockerels a 12-3 half-time lead.
Injuries forced changes to the side with Shane Williams going on for Gareth Roberts and Gareth Cowans for Axford. The side were further disrupted by a yellow card to second row Lee Williams as the visitors began to get on top early in the second half. While he was off the field Mountain Ash took advantage, scoring a try from a lineout. But the visitors infringed straight from the restart giving Entwistle the chance to stretch the lead again with a penalty.
The Cockerels took the game beyond the opposition with an excellent try by the ever-improving Bobby Pike, which Entwistle again converted. Mountain Ash lost possession in mid-field and like any good open-side Pike was on the ball in a flash, picking up and shrugging off a couple of would-be tacklers before racing in from 30 metres.
Croesy dominated from then on and should have had at least 2 more scores. The first chance came after a stunning break by outside half Chris Landry. He raced half the length of the field and drew the final defender but his pass failed to find wing Matthew Hiatt, another player who had an excellent game. The second chance fell to centre David Davies who was hauled down just short of the line after another thrilling break.
The Croesy faithful were pleased to see the return of Mark Smith who came on as a second-half replacement for his first outing of the season. They will also have been much happier with the style and commitment of this performance. If the Cockerels continue to play like this they will undoubtedly move up the table.
Croesy's next league game is a rearranged home match with Newport Saracens on Thursday 24th November.