Caldy . . . 7 pts New Brighton . . . 30 pts

by David Wilcox

A LARGE crowd turned up at Paton Field on Saturday - both first teams were without games - and there was a real 'local derby' atmosphere for this Halbro 2nd Team Cup game played in front of a frequently partisan and vociferous crowd of supporters.

New Brighton went into this game probably as favourites, especially with the experienced Carl Turley and Mark Dorrington in the forwards, but in true cup tie fashion Caldy were not in the least impressed and made the Blues work hard for their win and a half-time lead of 13 points did not necessarily look like a winning margin.

Straight from the whistle the Blues took the game to Caldy and Andy Donaldson's effective line-out jumping and the solid scrummaging of Craig Smithson, plus the powerful running of the Blues centres, gave Caldy lots to think about.

The game was only three minutes old when, with the help of some excellent line kicking from Steve Dean, New Brighton established a position in the Caldy half for Joel Parker to power through the defence and hand the scoring pass to Keith Armstrong. Steve Dean converted (0-7).

In the final minutes of the half, Steve Dean popped over a couple of penalties to stretch the lead (0-13).

Caldy came out for the second-half determined and for long periods they stretched the Blues defence, but Ian Murray had other ideas when fielding a kick deep in his own half and setting off on a solo run, taking on the whole of the home defence, to score in the corner. Steve Dean converted from a difficult position.

Now, though 20 points in arrears, Caldy came storming back and No 6 Paul McDonald burrowed over close to the posts. John Close converted (7-20).

Caldy upped a gear now, sensing the Blues were wilting. But despite several near misses they just couldn't penetrate the visitors' defence and by the final quarter the Blues were increasingly taking charge.

A line-out catch by Andy Donaldson started the move, which created the gap for Ian Wynn to move the ball wide to Tom Gee to dive over (7-25). Dan Searle completed the scoring after a forward drive.

This game was a credit to both teams. It was played in good spirit with a skill that belied a second team status.