West Bank Swans 35 ? 12 Langworthy Reds
The Swans made the short journey to Salford to face a Langworthy team that they had never previously beaten. The Swans started the game with a strong wind behind them and playing down the slope, they used this to their advantage and after only 3 minutes scrum half Greg Pitchilingi crashed over from dummy half to open the scoring, centre David Patterson added the extras. For the next 20 minutes the Swans were virtually camped in the Langworthy half and only good defence and a few errors kept them at bay. Coach Peter Brady sent on Danny Bellfield whose impact was felt instantly as he crashed through 4 defenders to touch down in the corner, Patterson used the wind to perfection and knocked over the conversion to take the score to 12-0. The rough tough Langworthy forwards tried to gee up their team with a number of big hits and solid drives, but they were met by a Swans pack in a determined mood and after some excellent work by Chris Syers and Captain for the day Phillip Briscoe, loose forward David Jones knocked a drop goal to take the Swans 13 ahead. The first half was wrapped up with Pitchilingi crossing the whitewash for his second try of the game, following some brilliant build up play from Jonny Mark and Adam Elwell.
The second half started with Langworthy using the slope and wind to their advantage and making yards with what seemed like every drive, only some excellent defence from Rob Murnane and Michael Murlarki keeping the hosts scoreless. This however didn?t last as the Langworthy stand off went on a mazy run and crossed under the sticks to open the Reds? account. This only drove the Swans on, and after some massive hits from Peter Mcpartland and Kevin Gamble Langworthy coughed up possession close to their own line. Pitchilingi took this as his opportunity to grab his hat-trick and crashed over after dancing past two defenders following good work from Keith Pierce and debutant Michael Drake, Patterson again tagging on the extras. From the resulting kick off the Swans pack again drove up field and Man Mountain Bellfield crashed over for his second taking 3 defenders with him, again Patterson knocked over the conversion. Langworthy would not lie down and added their second try 10 minutes before time, The best was still to some, with seconds left on the clock versatile prop forward Syers went on a rampaging run and after stepping and weaving his way through the tiring Langworthy defence and fooling the full back with a classy dummy he went on to race 60 metres and touch down to wrap up the days scoring, Patterson added the extra?s to take his own match tally to 10.
Cheshire Oaks Bacon products Man of the match awards went to:-
1st Greg Pitchilingi
2nd Chris Syers
3rd Phillip Briscoe
Trust in Widnes
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