Congleton fail to win in first home game

Congleton 1st XV played an entertaining game at home against Parkonians
on Saturday the 11th of September 2010. Congleton kicked off the first half and
drew first blood with fly half Joe Wilcox converting a penalty in the first 10
minutes. Leading 3-0, Congleton took the foot off the pedal, letting in two
converted tries, leaving the score at 3-14. A good back row move saw Congleton
man of the match Mark Berrisford score an unconverted try. Congleton were
awarded two more penalties again converted by Joe Wilcox to leave the score at
14-14. In the last five minutes of the first half,Congleton gave away a
needless penalty which Parkonians capitalised on to leave the half time score at
14-17 in Parkonian's advantage.

The start of the second half saw Parkonians score two converted quick tries,
putting the score at 14-31. Congleton fought hard and their efforts were
rewarded with a try when Centre Mark Berrisford cleverly darted past the
Parkonians defence to score under the posts. Again Joe Wilcox was at hand to
get maximum points with the conversion. With the score at 21-31, it looked
like Congleton's first win of the season was imminent but a converted try by
Parkonians put the game beyond Congleton's reach, leaving the final score at
21-39. Big improvements from Mark Berrisford and Chris Davis at centre were
noticeable as Congleton dictated the game in midfield. Again the foward pack
proved to be Congleton's strength as they managed to overpower the Parkonians
scrum all the time. Steve Hassle at prop stood out as a good new player and
James Graham won a lot of lineout ball to enable the backs to get quality ball
as they looked sharp in attack. Some work still remains to be done in defence,
both in attack and defence. With Joe Wilcox growing well

into the fly half role and overcoming the big learning curve, it's only a matter
of time before this new look squad starts to win.