Congleton Home League Match V Parkonians

Congleton received Parkonians on Saturday in their third league match of the season. After one narrow win and one narrow loss Congleton were hoping for a decisive win against a team who had beaten them convincingly last season.
On a warm afternoon Congleton took the field with a slightly re-shuffled team, that saw Croft step in to the front row, Cashmore in the second row, Whiteley back to number eight, Podmore at fullback and Ryan Jones in on the wing.
From the kick off Congleton were under pressure from a chip over the defence from Parkonians who then spent the next 10 minutes camped inside Congleton’s 5 meter line. Some solid defence from Congleton’s pack kept Parkonians out and the home side worked their way up field with some good support work and adventurous handling in the backs.
Congleton then turned the screw on Parkonians and with some well worked moves involving the bulky Wilding, battered the Parkonian’s defence, coming close on three occasions, but failing to cross the try line. This proved to be the theme for most of the game with Congleton playing all the Rugby but not being able to turn pressure into points.
The usually metronomic Podmore was out of tune with his kicking, missing two penalty chances at the end of the half and a third penalty was quickly taken only to have the ball turned over near the line and cleared by the heavy boot of the Parkonian’s full back.
Some fisticuffs by Parkonians prop saw the referee reach for his yellow card, who was constantly badgered by the verbose away team throughout the half.
Half time: Congleton 0 Parkonians 0
The second half continued in the same manner with Congleton pushing hard but spilling a lot of ball and failing to break the line. The continued pressure eventually led to a converted penalty by Podmore to give Congleton a three point lead on 53 minutes.
Congleton took their collective feet off the pedal and Parkonians capitalised with a well supported break through some lack-lustre Congleton tackles, to score wide out left with an unconverted try on 70 minutes to give them a 3 – 5 lead.
Again Congleton upped their game but were unable to capitalise. A few heads dropped and bickering in the forwards allowed Parkonians to increase the lead with a scrambled try close to the posts which was converted to take Parkonians to a 3 – 12 point buffer at the final whistle.
Considering the previous seasons results Congleton have come a long way, but must feel disappointed in a game they could of and should of won. There were some real positives in this performance especially in the line out and loose forward play, but again tackling was an issue and a lot of work needs to be done in breaking the gain line. Coach Cardall is confident that Congleton will build on the hard work so far, and find that killer instinct near to the try line, which will give them the victories the performances deserve.

Team:
1. A. Watt
2. M. Somerfield
3. G. Croft
4. D, Cashmore
5. S. Wilding
6. C. May
7. R. Kirkham
8. G. Whitely
9. M. Manning
10. K. Ridgway
11. R. Jones
12. C. Davies (c)
13. M. Berrisford
14. J. Wilcox
15. D. Podmore
Reserves:
J. Woodman