Ormskirk gain revenge over New Brighton with stylish win

Feb 7 2013 by Our Correspondent, Ormskirk Advertiser

ORMSKIRK had a mind for vengeance after their visit to New Brighton earlier in the year which despite utter forward dominance had resulted in a loss.

Ormskirk started in similar style with a tight five built for power rather than pace and their early pressure was rewarded by many strikes against the head by hooker Andy Povey and a push-over try for Number 8 Kieran Mahood.

The visiting team struggled to cope with the momentum that was generated by crashing runs from powerhouses Brian Green, Steve Denholm and notably Martyn Dolce. An ever youthful Adi Molyneux gave the opposition a master class in how to play the breakdown turning over ball seemingly at will.

The old saying of, ‘forwards win the match and the backs decide by how much’ was certainly true of this fixture. With the Ormskirk backs having a winning formula of power and pace New Brighton knew they were going to be in for a tough afternoon.

Sniping runs and an arrow-like pass from scrum half Tom Povey gave Johnny Armstrong time to show his creative genius which the proverbial ‘hot knife through butter’ doesn’t adequately describe.

The imposing centre partnership of Gareth Newman and Paul Kearney left one cringing in sympathy for their opposite numbers who had to live with their crashing runs and commanding tackling. Wingers Adam Bennett and Justin Lyon broke through tackles and covered well in defence when New Brighton made their infrequent visits to the ‘Kirk half.

Close to the half time whistle and New Brighton managed to strike back from a hack through from their flanker. Puffing like Stephenson’s Rocket and equally slow, captain Neil Ainsworth didn’t manage to catch him.

Determined to make up for his mistake he miraculously found himself at the back of a maul and, tripping over his bootlaces, managed to touch down.

The second half proved to be as fruitful as the first with similar patterns of play leading to some sublime scores.

Lack of discipline and arguing with the Referee led to a succession of penalties against the visitors.

With their stand-off spending time in the sin bin for dissent prop Terry McDermott sped up the middle of the park to receive a pass from a rampant Paul Kearney to score under the posts.

This stylish win leaves Ormskirk only two wins away from a promotion place in the league table.