A sunny winter afternoon greeted Eccles as they trotted down the steps onto the pitch at Red Rocks on Saturday. The visitors began the match brightly and for the opening 20 minutes Eccles were the dominant team, enjoying the greater share of possession, territory and attacking opportunities but were unable to penetrate a determined West Park defence with the crucial final pass often lacking the required precision, giving West Park the opportunity to relieve the pressure with an accurate kick up field. This pattern of play, with Park kicking the ball and Eccles running it, was a distinctive feature of the match. An early indication of the threat posed by the host's kicking game came on 7' when a penalty inside the Park half took play to a line out 15m from Eccles' goal line. The ball was turned over at the next breakdown with expert jackal technique by Stand-off Simpson and the game returned back to the Park half, where it remained for the next 10 minutes. Eccles continued to toil in search for a way through the effective defence, exerting great effort to get within striking distance only to loose possession and see Park kick the ball back into Eccles territory, where Fullback Parkinson or Winger Ackers-Johnson would catch and recommence the attack with driving runs from deep. On 17 minutes a Yellow Card was shown to West Park and a scrum awarded to Eccles inside the 22, but this promising opportunity came to nothing with Eccles loosing possession to Park who went on to launch a counter attack up thier left wing, and succeeded, somewhat against the run of play, in scoring in the corner; converting the try with an excellent kick from out wide. (20’ TRY WEST PARK. 7-0). Eccles looked to respond immediately to this set back. Front rowers Campbell, Cox and Reed, and centres Candland and Skillicorn all contributed maurading drives in an attempt to break through the West Park lines. A number of Eccles Penalties were kicked to touch in the corners but the driving mauls from line outs were ineffective and the Park defence, who were under pressure for long periods, could not be breached. On 32’ Fortune had the vision and skill to exploit space on the right flank and broke up the wing into the Park 22, offloading to his inside support but the attack was halted by a foot in touch. On 36’ an Eccles scrum on the edge of the 22 provided another good attacking platform and the ball was moved swiftly across the backline before the final pass hit Ackers-Johnson's shoulder instead of the winger's hands, an error rewarded with cheers from the Home fans in the stand. From the resulting scrum, West Park cleared their lines with a big boot up field and shortly after they were awarded a penalty at a ruck on the edge of the Eccles 22, taking this opportunity to extend their lead with a well aimed kick. (39’ PENALTY WEST PARK. 10-0). There was just enough time to restart play before the referee brought the first half to a conclusion, leaving Eccles to contemplate where they had failed to convert their possession into points. HT 10-0 Eccles made a calamitous start to the second half with two players colliding and knocking on 15m from their goal line. However, the resulting Park scrum was dealt with and Eccles ran the ball out of defence, taking play to the halfway line, where it remained for the next 5 minutes with committed tackling from both teams. The catalyst for an Eccles breakthrough came through Ayanlaja-Lowo on the right wing, who used his power to crash through a number of challenges disrupting the Park defence just inside their half. Aggressive support and rapid passing capitalised on this impetus and the ball was moved swiftly across the field to the left wing where Ackers-Johnson gained territory as he weaved through the tacklers. Eccles were now shifting up through the gears and playing at pace through relentless work from the forwards. The ball was switched back across the pitch with accurate passing to the right wing to find Ayanlaja-Lowo who charged in to finish and score a fine try in the corner; converted by Simpson. (46’ TRY ECCLES 10-7). At 53’ Eccles reorganised with replacement Matt Parkinson coming on to the right wing, Ayanlaja-Lowo moving to Back Row and Spooner moving to Second Row. Eccles maintained their energy and forward momentum and were soon were awarded a penalty 20m out, almost directly in front of the sticks, which was slotted home by Simpson to even the score. (60’ PENALTY ECCLES 10-10). Following the restart, a loss of discipline saw West Park marched back by the match official. Eccles took the opportunity to break quickly up the left flank, where incredible footwork at speed from Ackers-Johnson took the flying winger from the halfway line to within a few meters of the goal line, where he was felled but succeeded in stretching out with ball to score a superb try to the delight of the Eccles travelling support. (62’ ECCLES TRY 10-15). Eccles brought on fresh legs from the bench for the last 20 minutes, with Cullen replacing Long at Scrum Half and Houghton replacing Thornton in the back row and for a time the visitors appeared to be composed and in control of the game. However, with 10 minutes to play, a sequence of penalties that began on the halfway line soon had Eccles defending their own goal line and West Park scored in the corner (70’ TRY WEST PARK 15-15). All square. The game was set for a nail-biting finish. With 3 minutes to play Eccles were building momentum in attack on the West Park 22-line when the ball was slapped out of Cullen’s hands at the breakdown and Simpson cooly kicked the penalty to put Eccles ahead. (77’ PENALTY ECCLES 15-18). At the restart Eccles held on to the ball and thier composure to conclude 2023 with an away win that keeps them top of the Lancashire and Cheshire Counties 1 Division. With a 2-week Christmas break in fixtures, it will be Saturday 6 January before Eccles are next in action when they face Warrington at home. FT 15-18 Photos: Phil Saunders Hall.
