Golborne 12's Semi Final Vs Rylands Tiger Sharks

 

Golborne Parkside - 26 Rylands Tiger Sharks - 4
 
Semi Finals don't come along very often, when they do the good players stand up and be counted, and that's certainly what Golborne did in this NWC Development Cup Semi-Final.
 
Parkside booked their place in the final up in Blackpool with one of their best displays of the season, with every single player putting in 110%.  Golborne had the advantage of fielding their strongest line up of the season, and it told in the early parts of the game, with Jack Pilling and Brendan Lowe doing alot of damage in the centre of the pitch.  Great hands from Golborne got them 15 metres from the opposition try line, with Liam Cragg feeding Brendan Lowe from the next play the ball for him to crash over the line for the opening score, converted by Connor Topping.
 
Two sets later and Golborne were in a similar position, the ball was passed stray along the floor with many players stopping and looking at the referee, James Melling picked the ball up and played to the whistle, spotting a gap and getting his head down for the line, diving over and bring the home advantage up to 12-0 at half time.
 
Second half and Golborne were going dowhill with the wind at their backs.  Parkside found themselves attacking on the half way line, Connor Topping looking for the space and throwing out a great pass to Rob Taylor for him to beat three men and go in under the sticks, converted again by Topping to give some breathing space at 18-0.  Rylands now started to throw everything at Golborne and threw the ball around well, getting the ball up the field and scrambling over the line to bring the scoreline to 18-4.  Golborne now had to show their defensive skills with great tackling from the whole team, Sam Sinclair and Grant Keyes leading the way.  On the next set, Parkside got the ball to Brendan Lowe who went almost 50 metres up the pitch, to be held up short, Lowe slipped a great ball out of the tackle to Grant Keyes for him to go in under the sticks, with another Topping conversion and a superbly taken penalty conversion, the whistle blew to send the lads through to the final.  Special mentions for Brendan Lowe, Aaron Hindle and Liam Clarke who all had injury issues all week put put their hands up for the game and performed extemely well.
 
It was great scenes at the end of the game and it's a massive achievement from each and everyone of them, you can be immensely proud of this victory, as I know everybody who watched the game were very pleased and proud of you.
 
Tries:-
Lowe, Melling, Taylor, Keyes
 
Goals:-
Topping (5/5)
 
Man Of The Match
Sam Sinclair
 
2nd Man Of The Match
Liam Cragg