28 - 22

05/11/2011 (League)

Report from Martin Brough

East booked a quarter final spot after they take a hard fought victory against Wath Brow Hornets but also have to thank their nearest rivals Miners who by beating Thatto Heath left East needing a win to guarantee their place.

East opened the scoring within the first five minutes, Steve Ormersher breaking through the opposition line on half way slipped the ball to full back Mark Kay as he was going to ground a short ball from Kay found U18’s hooker Nicky Ratcliffe in support who managed to kick through for the try line as he was tackled, centre Gavin Hunter shooting through to collect and ground the ball.

Minutes later Hunter crossed again and the conversion from Adam Holland gave East a 10-0 lead. Wath Brow responded on twelve minutes, Scott Teare and Joe combined well before youngster Ian Curnow sum how wriggled throw several defenders to reach out and touchdown, Jamie Devine adding the conversion.
East looked close to increasing their lead when Lyndon Robertson was held short of the line, closely followed by Adrian Dootson having the ball stripped as he reached for the line. It was the visitors however registered the next score just short of twenty minutes with Carl Dixon in space on the left touch line leveling the score and Devine adding the extras to give Wath Brow a two point advantage.

East regained the lead on twenty five when Steve Ormersher, playing his final game for East, used his size and power to blast through three would be tacklers for a true forwards try, Holland landing the conversion for a 16-12 lead. The half’s drama was far from over with former Whitehaven and Cook Islands half back Leroy Joe somehow managing to slip the ball out of the tackle near the East line for young Kyle Lofthouse to jinks his way through to regain the lead and Devine landing the kick to take Wath Brow into the break, leading 16-18.

The second half was as exciting as the first and with only a minute gone it looked that Gavin Hunter was in for his hat-trick but for a diving ankle tap on the half way by young scrum half Charlie Tomlinson. As the set ended Holland put up a high ball which was defused by full back Jamie Devine who rounded the chasing pack to set off down the touch line only for Ryan O’Toole to make a diving ankle tap to prevent a certain score, which would have made it tough for East to recover from. As the hour mark came up Gavin Hunter collected a short ball from Danny Kilshaw at full flight and shot through the Wath Brow defence to score his hat-trick, Hollands conversion taking East four points clear at 22-18.

When Sam Grainey darted through from acting half a couple of minutes later, after Ormersher had demolished yet another cluch of defenders to leave a gap, it looked that the game was safe, the referee though ruled that Grainey was held up over the line. With ten minutes remaining Leroy Joe put up a high ball on the last tackle close to the East line, Scott Pink out leaping the defence to catch and ground ten meters to the left of the uprights to level at 22-22. With tensions high Devine missed with the conversion attempt for the first time in the game.

Leroy Joe for Wath Brow and Adam Holland of East both failed with drop goal attempts in the dying minutes before the game was put to bed when Troy Brophy cut back inside off Kilshaw to score the match winner in the final seconds of the game, Holland slotting the conversion over.

Result Leigh East 28 - Wath Brow 22