West Park performance is better in relegation fight

Mar 10 2008 by Ian Hargraves, Liverpool Daily Post

WEST PARK’S hopes of taking a stride away from the National Three North relegation zone were dashed in the second half of their match against Caldy on Saturday, but they can at least believe that the arrival of a new manager has given the team a slightly more efficient approach.

Despite playing into a rain-laden gale throughout the first half, they grabbed a late try to ensure there was only a six-point deficit at the interval, when opponents Caldy also lost prop forward James Remfry with quite a serious injury.

On the resumption, with the wind behind them, they started to look the better side and actually took the lead through a fine try from Number 8 Craig Smithson, converted by Andrew Soutar.

When Soutar then added a penalty, the home crowd genuinely believed victory was there for the taking, with the whole side looking better organised than for some time and Caldy making numerous mistakes.

However, the course of the match changed completely midway through the half, when the rain stopped, the wind dropped, West Park found it almost impossible to claim possession and their visitors gradually regained control.

Full-back Simon Mason’s young protege Gavin Roberts, who had already converted his side’s two first-half tries from lovely winger Craig Ross, showed his marksmanship by landing three penalties and the visitors finished winners by five points.

West Park definitely looked a better side than they have done recently, with fly-half Neil Ryan kicking excellently and also opening the game up from time to time, but they seemed to lose the plot in the final quarter.

Possession, particularly from the lineout, became increasingly uncommon, handling mistakes began to creep in and the visitors clearly realised they could win if they kept their heads and prevented a sudden breakaway.

Had West Park’s lively left winger Matthew Williams managed to snap up a try following a kick ahead, the situation might have been changed, but the ball was scrambled to safety and West Park gradually lost control.

Once Caldy’s penalties regained the lead, they looked unlikely to be caught again. West Park must do something to improve possession from the lineout, which has been relatively rare and messy all season.

Their visitors’ one big advantage was their lineout power through Richard Bradshaw and Paul White and West Park will need to emulate them if they are to avoid the drop.