Winnington Park 7 – 47 Lymm

A Patrick Hat-Trick

The top 8 teams in Cheshire, at Level 5 and below, compete in the main Cup competition and Lymm travelled to nearby Winnington Park for this Friday evening encounter. WPark are at Level 7, North West 2 League, which is 2 leagues below Lymm and it is a number of seasons since we last met at 1 st team level.

The Burrows Hill ground was buzzing, with a large turnout of spectators, eager to see a game of rugby after the long layoff, before the league season commences next Saturday.

The home team provided tough opposition but Lymm were in great form, particularly in the first half when they scored 35 unanswered points. Their handling and ball retention was excellent and although Park defended defiantly, the pace and phases of the Lymm team was relentless. First half tries were scored by Oli Higginson, Cormac Nolan and a hat trick of tries from Paddy Jennings. Nolan added all the conversions.

HT 0 – 35

The game was suspended for around 10 minutes shortly after the restart due to an injury to a Park player. The home team made a few changes and their scrummaging improved. They had more possession and kept Lymm pinned in their own half. A yellow card saw Lymm reduced to 14 and eventually Park were rewarded with a converted try (7 – 35).

Lymm soon got back in control. They brought on their bench players and upped the pace again with further tries coming from Cormac Nolan and Aaron Rasheed, Nolan converting the latter.

FT 7 – 47

“I was really happy with tonight’s performance” commented Coach, Adam Fletcher. “I thought that we were physical in defence and got into our attacking shape very well. However, we have to be more accurate and at times more patient but overall it was a very positive start to the season.
“A special mention must go to Cormac Nolan with a point’s total of 22, from 2 tries and 6 conversions and to Paddy Jennings with an excellent first half hat trick of tries. Since returning to the club, Paddy has been superb and is right in the mix to start next week.
“I must compliment Winnington Park for hosting a great night, it was so good to see a huge crowd enjoying the game. They were a good side and caused us problems all evening. I would expect them to compete strongly in their league programme”

Lymm will now play in the Semi-Final which will be played in the New Year. But next Saturday they are at home to Kirkby Lonsdale, KO 2:15pm, the opening fixture of the North Premier League season.

Team: 1) Kurt Riley, 2) Rob Makin, 3) James Sherlock, 4) Aaron Rasheed, 5) James Yates,

6) Joe Watson, 7) Ben Warman, 8) Oli Higginson, 9) George Anderson, 10) Tom Bray (C),

11) Paddy Jennings, 12) Liam Connolly, 13) Ben Stansfield, 14) Scot Redfern,

15) Cormac Nolan, 16) Joe Higgins, 17) Alex Stewart, 18) Rhys Lilly, 19) Harry Martin,

20) Jordan Widdrington.