Ince Rose Bridge 46 - 16 Mayfield

On a rare off day for the Rochdale outfit, Saturday’s (19 February 2011) game saw Mayfield go down 46-16 away at Ince Rose Bridge.

The two teams were joint third, with Ince slightly ahead on points difference.

Mayfield, hampered by injuries to half backs Sam and Ben Butterworth never seemed to get off the mark, and conceded first after some poor defending allowed the Ince stand off to score to the right of the sticks.

Unfortunately this seemed to set the tone for the first half, and with influential Fullback Rob Kershaw limping from the field with a knee injury on the ten minute mark, there seemed to be no respite for the Away side.

Hooker Todd O’Brien tried his hardest to rally the team, but with weak defending on the fringes and the inexperience of the two stand in half backs Robinson and Foy, the Wigan side seemed to hold all the cards.

A try late in the half from O’Brien offered little consolation in what was possibly Mayfield’s worst 40 minutes of the season so far. The second half seemed as if it was going to go the same way with confusion straight from the kick off leading to a scrum which resulted in a try for Ince.

This seemed to give Mayfield the kick they needed and with O’Brien, Moroney and Lane taking the home team forward, they began to take the game to their opponents.

A key factor in this revival was Sampson stepping into the halves pushing Robinson back in to second Row.

However the revival was too little too late, and although Mayfield won the second half with two tries from O’Brien and Robinson they were left rueing a dismal first half display.