Rugby Union: Brighton struggle to keep up pace

Jan 23 2008 by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Daily Post

A POOR start to the year has left New Brighton struggling to keep up with the pace at the top of North Two West.

They had every hope of having a say in the promotion issue but reverses against Northwich and Sandbach have hit them hard.

The latest 20-3 defeat at Sandbach was hardly unexpected but was still difficult to comprehend.

New Brighton were forced to field a makeshift back division with five regulars on the sidelines and some of their play was disjointed.

Yet they had only themselves to blame for defeat.

They conceded two bad tries and failed to make the most of ample scoring opportunities against mid-table opposition.

They also let penalty chances go begging but perhaps this was understandable with regular kicker Stephen Dean amongst the absentees.

But chairman Peter Clark was left bemused by the rest of it, saying: “We flattered only to deceive.”

The Blues have been making efforts to create a decent back-up squad but it has not been easy.

Joel Parker, who recently returned to the club, was forced to play sooner than expected at Sandbach but Gareth Simpson, who has come back after a breath flirtation with Wirral, will be available for the coming weekend.

Brighton must now put together a string of victories if they are to get back in contention, starting at home to Lymm this Saturday. They still have to play the top two of Chester and Stockport.

Meanwhile, the Hartsfield pitch is currently waterlogged which means tonight’s scheduled Floodlit Cup clash involving Parkonians and Ellesmere Port has had to be called off.

A new date is still to be finalised.