A gloomy November afternoon was brightened up with an entertaining game at Broughton Park where Eccles dominated play in both halves to take a well earned Bonus Point Win back to Salford. Eccles first faced Broughton Park in the 1899/1900 season but the clubs have not faced each at Hough End since December 2015 when the hosts clamed a 13-12 victory and, with another close contest anticipated, Eccles fielded a starting line up with just two changes from last week and quickly established their attacking intent from the kick off. With just 2 minutes on the clock Fullback Parkinson pouched the ball and initiated a break up the left flank. Fly Half Simpson offloaded to the supporting Balogun, who was playing his first game following recovery from injury. The speedster left the defenders in his wake and, having done the hard work, scooted in behind the posts to dot down for the opening points but failed to ground the ball correctly and knocked on! Cheers then groans from the travelling Eccles support reverberated around the stand. Eccles looked to capitalise on their early authority and 4 minutes later a penalty in front of the posts presented a good opportunity to get some points on the scoreboard but this was spurned in favour of the quick tap option and possession was ultimately fumbled just short of the goal line. Eccles were thwarting themselves and appeared to be doing their upmost to impede their own progress when on 10 minutes prop Campbell was shown a yellow card and sent to the bin. The numerical disadvantage did not appear to restrict the Eccles appetite for attack and with quarter of an hour played, persistence eventually paid off, through multiple phases building pressure in the Park 22, resulting in a breakthrough from Ayanlaja-Lowo who, adding to his tally of 9 tries so far this season, powered through on the right wing to score in the corner. Conversion missed. (16’ 0-5). Eccles retained possession from the restart and Centre Candland, another homegrown product, broke clean through the defensive line just inside the Park half on the left and used his pace and guile to evade the tacklers and ground the ball as he slid over the line to score. Conversion missed. (19’ 0-10). Broughton Park responded to this set back with a penalty at the restart (22’ 3-10) which was a catalyst for a period of Park possession inside the Eccles half where the visitor's defence worked hard to suppress the hosts, with Cox, Reed, Cullen, Spooner and Houghton particularly effective with their line speed, tackling and work rate. The Eccles pack were enjoying the game and dominating the scrum. Broughton Park’s ability to compete in this area was further reduced when the hooker was shown a yellow on 32’ and Eccles completed the first half in control of the game. HT 3-10 Eccles started the second half with fresh replacements (Fortune for Houghton at 8 and Wright for Long at 9) and renewed attacking intentions. Perhaps recognising their 7-point cushion was not unassailable, and they had failed to take full advantage of all their opportunities before the interval, they began at a blistering pace with Balogun once again breaking through on the left wing and cutting infield to take on the fullback. He was stopped short of the goal line but Eccles took the penalty on offer in front of the sticks and Simpson slotted it home to extend their lead. (45’ 3-13). Momentum continued with another successful Eccles scrum on the right. Fortune ran the ball from the base and, fixing his man, neatly offloaded to Ayanlaja-Lowo who charged towards the corner but was tackled. The ball was recycled, play moved back infield and fly half Simpson showed his skills and invention by expertly chipping over the top of the advancing defensive line to himself and catching ball in his stride dotted down to score the third try of the afternoon, and went on to convert it. (50’ 3-20). A comeback from 17 points behind seemed unlikely but Broughton Park gained hope with an hour played, when Parkinson attempted to chip the ball through an improbable gap on the halfway line, the ball was blocked and ricocheted in the opposite direction, the chase was on and the Park winger, who had a good game throughout, outpaced Parkinson to score the try. ( 61’ 8-20). Eccles regained composure and successfully kept play in the host's territory for the remainder of the match. In the final minutes Sam Long was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle, the first such incident in the game, but this did not effect Eccles' attacking momentumn. From a 10m Eccles scrum on the left, great work from forwards took the ball close to the goal line, the ball was distributed by Wright to the back line and out to the right wing, where Ayanlaja-Lowo crashed through to finish in the corner to extend the Eccles lead. (78’ 8-25). FT 8-25 The Bonus Point Win sees Eccles close the gap at the top of the Counties 1 table to 4 points.
