New Brighton . . . 17pts Preston Grasshoppers . . . 29pts

by Colin Bentley

PRESTON rocked BBH New Brighton's National League Division Three promotion challenge with this win at Hartsfield on Saturday.

To say the Grasshoppers deserved their win would be fair. They played with passion and conviction throughout, but to say that they played well would be generous.

In truth, New Brighton were quite simply awful. Lacking direction, purpose and cohesion, the Blues stunned their supporters by serving up their worst performance of the season.

The Blues could, and should, have been at least a try in front in the early stages. Indeed, one attacking movement continued for some 90 seconds of unbroken play.

Brett eventually opened the scoring with a penalty on 15 minutes, but this was little reward for the Blues' opening pressure.

Preston, to everyone's surprise, began to boss the forward exchanges. When Tuihalamaka kicked a 19th minute penalty, it was all the encouragement Preston needed.

Tuihalamaka was injured in the move and forced to leave the field with a dislocated shoulder. Replacement stand-off Stephen Gough added the conversion with his first touch of the ball.

Further disaster struck for the Wirral men close to the break when Grasshoppers full-back Monaghan joined the attack to make a superb angled run to cross for his second try. Gough added the conversion and the Blues were trailing by 14 points (3-17).

A stern half-time talk from the coaches did little to liven the hapless Blues.

They fell further behind when 6' 7" Anton Cramant broke from a maul to score a dramatic try. Gough added the conversion and the Blues were staring defeat in the face, trailing by 3-24.

With 35 minutes still remaining, there was still time for New Brighton to rescue this one. In the event, Preston brought on veteran scrum-half Chris O'Toole, who effectively orchestrated a shut down that frustrated the Blues and prevented any real flow to proceedings.

White and Tupou scored tries converted by Brett on 70 and 75 minutes, closing the gap to 17-24. The game was there for New Brighton to snatch a dramatic win.

Several times, they broke free with stuttering moves that threatened to score, but, in truth, it would not have been justice had Preston lost this one. With the Blues in full flow and their expectant fans on their feet in expectation of a scoring break, McKenna pounced to snatch an interception and raced to score in the corner, killing the game stone dead.

Gough failed with the conversion.

This defeat, their second in three outings against modest opposition, signals something seriously wrong in the New Brighton ranks.

With six games remaining this season, New Brighton remain second in National League Division 3. They still occupy a promotion play-off spot, but the fact that they would have been firmly in the driving seat had they won against local rivals Preston and Waterloo, could well come to haunt them in this season's promotion challenge.

Something is seriously wrong at Hartsfield and searching questions need to be asked if the Blues are to get back on track.

With the playing talent in their ranks, this Saturday's visit to Liverpool St Helens should have been a reasonably straightforward affair. However, following the events at Blundellsands before Christmas and at Hartsfield on Saturday, the LSH game takes on huge proportions for the Blues and, on current form, looks like a mountain for them to climb.