Waterhead 24 – 22 Mayfield

A bad day at the office was the general view of players and coaching staff after a lack lustre performance saw Mayfield gift the two points to a very ordinary Waterhead side in Oldham on Saturday (19 March 2011).

Mayfield should have won this one convincingly but someone forgot to tell their opposition this as they notched up a 24 – 22 victory.

The Rochdale side travelled with a weakened team, with injuries and work commitments robbing them of six players on the day but there was really no excuse for the way they handed the game to their hosts.

Some very poor defending and penalty after penalty allowed Waterhead to build up a 20 – 6 half time lead.

Mayfield did rally and should have gone on to win the game but simple errors on the final pass cost them dearly.

There were some good individual performances but no cohesion and no sign of the team spirit that has pulled them through some tough encounters this season.

Once again full back Kelly was outstanding and he was well supported by Simpson, Nyland and Ellis. Fletcher and Johnson weighed in with two tries apiece and Marsland with three conversions.

Ashworth, Wells and Kershaw made telling contributions from the bench with special mention going to Dave Tully who stepped up for his first game in years to help the side out and showed he’d lost none of his guile and pace.

Team: James Kelly, Gareth Fletcher, Joe Hart, Lee Bradley, Sean Hill, John Marsland, Ben Duffy, Dunc Simpson, Paul Hancock, Mark Nyland, Anthony Greaves, Dave Ellis, Jake Johnson, Ian Kershaw, Leon Ashworth, Rob Wells, Dave Tully.