Mayfield v Littleborough

Trailing by ten points after twenty minutes it looked all over for Mayfield in this Riley Cup semi-final at Littleborough on Saturday.

Playing down the slope, the home side dominated the early exchanges and but for some resolute defence from the young Mayfield side, would have built an unassailable lead.

The travelling supporters got behind their team and this seemed to give them the boost they needed with Sean Hill making the most of some excellent work from Duncan Simpson and Craig White to grab his side’s first points, John Marsland converted.

The next fifteen minutes were end to end with both sides bombing chances. A half time score of 10 – 6 was a fair reflection of the game and a rousing call to arms from the coaching team of Marvin Connolly and Dean Hartley made sure that Mayfield started the second half in strong style with powerful runs from Nick Hargreaves and Stef Howard paving the way for a break from the impressive Andy Taylor, which saw him go forty metres before handing the ball to Mark Nyland who in turn slipped a quick pass to Andy Lee who touched down under the sticks, Marsland converted.10 – 12.

Another Taylor break saw some good hands as the ball was worked wide through Paul Hancock and Jack Ashworth and a great final pass from Sean Snape which fooled both sides, its thought that this was Snape’s first pass for two seasons, Ste Gregory took the pass and did well to ground the ball under the attention of three Boro defenders.

Littleborough fought back and despite their best efforts Mayfield couldn’t stop them levelling the score.

16 – 16 at the whistle. Extra time was again end to end stuff with both sides treating the large crowd to some thrilling rugby with neither side able to break the deadlock the game went to the golden point.

The home side were finally put to the sword after a moments indiscipline team mates securing a final spot against fierce local rivals Rochdale Cobras.

Duncan Simpson picked up the M.O.M for a non stop performance, with Mark Nyland and Andy Lee pushing him close. Perhaps the most pleasing aspect of this victory was the fact that of Mayfield’s seventeen players fifteen of them had come through the Mustangs youth section of the club.