Vale “A” 22 - 26 Preston GH 3
Miller Homes Division 1
Tony Gilmour hit by injuries, as are all the Vale teams, was helped in his selection this week by the inclusion of seven Lancaster University players.
In addition to that he had to play players out of position, i.e. Tom Smith at hooker, Isaac Turton at lock and Dave Wrightson, a prop at Number 8, to get a full side out.
This did not help the cohesion of the team and from the start Preston’s large pack put the Vale eight under a lot of pressure resulting in them being camped in the Vale half for the first half hour.
The pressure told and after 20 minutes Hoppers scored a converted try.
Right after that Terence McCaw (T J) to all his friends made a lovely break up field but the move broke down and Hoppers returned downfield to the Vale 22.
The tackling was good, much improved on the previous week and Vale kept them out.
During one of the Hoppers attacks the ball was dropped, young Tom Varnstone on the right wing was on it like a flash, picked up and sped away to score a 60 metre try under the posts.
He converted his own try to make the score 7 – 7.
Another break by Tom Williams (both centres were from the Uni) should have resulted in another try for Vale but unfortunately the ball was dropped with the try line in site.
The half ended with Vale at last starting to match Hoppers and the half time score 7 - 7.
Unfortunately the second half started like the first half with Hoppers scoring within a couple of minutes with another converted try.
Varnstone, who had been injured was replaced by Sher and then skipper Doyle made a blind side break to score which he misself converted. 14 - 14.
Unfortunately Hoppers took the game to Vale again and scored another try by their fly half when the Vale winger Lock completely missed the ball.
A penalty by Doyle saw Vale claw their way back to 17 - 19.
The Vale then made the last 2 changes with Tagg on for Charnley and Thompson on for Birchall but again a lack of tackling enabled the Hoppers replacement to charge through the centre for another converted try.
With their backs to the wall Vale again replied with a sweet movement which ended with Ryan Lock going over for an excellently worked try. Unfortunately the conversion was missed and with time running out Doyle made a lovely break and put the ball out wide which should have resulted in the winning try. However, the ball was dropped, the chance had gone and instead of the 4 points for winning a solitary 1 point was gained.
All in all a much improved performance from Vale “A”, the much changed pack struggled manfully and improved as the game went on. The Uni players, especially the two centres TJ and Tom Williams, put in some terrific tackles. Williams, usually a back row some real rib ticklers.
Hopefully, next week will see the return of some of the Vale regulars, but Tony is indebted to the Uni lads, long may they keep coming to the Vale.
Pictures by Fred Swarbrick
Team: P Jackson, T Smith, L Jackson; I Turton, L McCullough; B Charnley, L Birchall, D Wrightson; J Wyke, K Doyle; R Lock, T McCaw, T Williams, T Varnstone; P Williamson;
Replacements; S Tagg, B Sher, N Thompson
