Congleton fall short for 1st victory of the season

Congleton hosted Linley and Kidsgrove in a South Lancs/Cheshire
Division Three league match. A spirited team effort by Congleton saw them fall
short again. Linley opened the scoring and Congleton responded well with a solo
effort try by Scott Somerfield whose chip over in the midfield saw him through from loose
play. Scott chased his own kick and beat the Linley defence to score. Congleton failed
to capitalise on getting extra points by not converting the resulting goal kick. Congleton's second try
came towards the break when Linley failed to clear the ball in their own 22 from
a scrum. A careless kick by their fly half failed to find touch after being charged down by Dominic Cardall. Scott Somerfied gathered the ball well and was tackled. Hector
Musonza who was playing left wing's quick thinking saw him rip the ball and dash
for the try line leaving Linley players ball watching. Again Congleton failed to
get maximum points as the kick from fly half Joe Wilcox went wide.

The half time wistle couldn't have come soon enough for Linley as they appeared
to be losing steam. With the half time score at 19 – 10 to Linley who had
scored three tries and kicked two conversions. Linley started the 2nd half slow off the mark,
allowing Congleton back into the game. A brilliant move by the Congleton backs saw Hector Musonza barge through a couple of Linley defenders to set up
Mark Berrisford who scored a breakaway try. The kicking foot of Joe
wilcox let him down. This only allowed Linley to seize an opportunity and
responded with their No 8 crushing over the Congleton try line from short range,
converting the goal kick to get a valuable extra two points. With he score 26 – 15 at the time, Congleton pressurised for another try and attacked from
25m out with a series of rucks, working up to inside the Linley 5m line when
Gareth Croft barged over for a converted try, leaving the score at 22 – 26 to
Linley. The momentum was now with Congleton who tried desperately to get back
towards Linleys line but time ran, leaving Linley to get maximum points.

Yet again Congleton showed a good team effort with a mixture of youth and experienced players. The game saw a hard forward battle with Congleton good in
the scrums. Linley proved to be better in the loose and Congleton’s backs looked
sharp on attack and solid in defence,considering a few players were playing out of position.

Congleton still need to work on not conceding too many penalties at the breakdown.
The overall team peformance was good with good individual play from Mark
Berrisford at inside centre and Scott Somerfield showing great promise at
outside centre. Captain Carl May again led by example, throwing himself into
every ruck and Andy Watt tackling like a true terrier. A disappointing result for
Congleton with the team yet again showing a good performance and great promise which they can surely build on.