Ormskirk battle hard to defeat Manxmen

Feb 14 2013 by Our Correspondent, Ormskirk Advertiser

ORMSKIRK welcomed Ramsey to Green Lane and were made to work hard for their victory over the side from the Isle of Man whose results have been vastly improved of late.

Playing into the wind in the first half, ‘Kirk got straight on to the front foot and spent much of the first 10 minutes deep in the visitors’ territory.

After Chris Bartolo had skilfully gathered Gareth Prytherch’s chip over, he raced 50 yards only to be dragged down inches short of the try-line, ‘Kirk recycled the ball and only Ramsey players straying offside stopped them scoring. After the referee sin-binned the visitors’ scrum-half for slowing the ball down illegally, Ormskirk kept their composure to finally open the scoring as Aidan Charlton touched down out wide. The conversion was missed but Ormskirk led 5-0. Ramsey came straight back at ‘Kirk and after a catch and drive from a lineout 10 yards from the home side’s line was thwarted a yard short the hard work seemed to have been done only for Ormskirk to allow a soft score from the base of the ruck. Ramsey converted the try to lead 7-5.

The Gingerbread Men dominated the remainder of the half and added to their points tally with a move straight off the training ground that allowed Ryan Purcell to burst through two tacklers and offload to the supporting Mark Webster who strolled over in the corner.

Alex Lambie converted and Ormskirk were back in the box seat. Ormskirk continued to pressure the away side and the strong running of Martin Rothwell, Dan Hitchlock and Glyn Roberts gained important yards, constantly testing the Manx side’s defence. Ormskirk’s pressure again turned into points when Ramsey were penalised at the breakdown and Lambie converted the penalty from 30 yards out. The half finished with another try for the home side, Prytherch’s long, accurate box-kick gave Joe Hodson the chance to beat his opposite winger to the ball and then outpace the cover defence for the elusive wingman to notch his 11th try of the season. Again Lambie converted and Ormskirk led 22-7 at half-time.

Ormskirk failed to kick on in the 2nd half and from a position where they would have liked to add many more points, they repeatedly came up just short in the final third of the pitch.

The worsening conditions under foot didn’t help and Ramsey’s scrambling defence was very impressive at times but Ormskirk could, and should have at the very least scored their fourth try for the extra bonus point. As it turned out, the only points of the second period went to the visitors, poor tackling allowed Ramsey’s prop to break through and show a good turn of pace to touch down in the corner and with 5 minutes remaining they converted a penalty to get themselves a losing bonus point. This was a disappointing performance from an Ormskirk side that knows it can play much better and will have to if they are to come away with a victory next Saturday as they travel to the Isle of Man to take on Vagabonds.