Bradford & Bingley 19  Macclesfield  24

Macclesfield moved out of the relegation area courtesy of this well contrived and gritty victory at Wagon Lane against a Bees outfit that refused to lie down in an entertaining game that kept supporters of both sides on the edge throughout the contest.

The game began on a superb playing surface with a strong down field wind and the Blues kicked off into the face of this to start the game.  The early encounters saw the home side attack but a good pick up from Dan Baines saw the ball progressed to half way and relieve the pressure.

Ross Winney was unfortunate when a penalty struck into the face of the wind after 8 minutes play held up in its progress and struck an upright before dropping back into play and although – despite being against the elements – the Blues maintained pressure no scores came with both defences on top of their game.

The Macclesfield pack enjoyed several rousing rolling mauls – one which must have covered 30+ metres – and several periods of pressure in the Bradford 22 without reward until, after 35 minutes, as the half looked to be scoreless they mounted one more concerted forward drive which saw Flanker –Neal Keane – emerge with the ball to crash over the line for the first try.  Winney converted to give the Blues a lead that they never surrendered.

Unfortunately just before the score the outstanding Dan Baines received a shoulder injury which forced him to leave the park and sadly ended his season to add to the unimpressive injury list that the club has endured this season.

As the interval approached it was the Bees who next got on the scoreboard when after a line and drive one of their forwards touched down in the corner but the conversion went adrift and the Blues almost conceded another try as the interval beckoned but Bradford wasted the opportunity when the ball was lost with an overlap in evidence.

The second half began with Macclesfield having advantage of sun and wind and it was not that old when after a scrum on the Bradford line that Prop Forward – Ben Latham – claimed the try for Winney to convert and make it 14-5 to the Blues.

However, as was the case throughout the game, the home side rallied and almost immediately scored a try themselves after Macclesfield Lock Jerry Bostock had been binned for a professional foul. This was converted and it was all on at 14-12.

After 28 minutes the Blues created an overlap for Full back plus Man of the Match – Rick Chadwick to link into the line on the overlap and touch down unopposed for Winney to add the two.  21-12 and looking good but it was not to be and the  concerns of the Blues faithful were compounded as the Bees who refused to lie down all afternoon scored another try almost immediately which was converted to make it 21-19.

It was shortly after this that an unusual event occurred which I have not witnessed all season – Andy Rice our evergreen Scrum Half was pulled up for not putting the ball in straight into a scrum.  Incredulous though it may seem the Blues got down to business and a strong break from Tom Davenport created the ground from which Ross Winney struck the penalty which eased the Blues fears as the game entered injury time.

After the game Coach - Steve Mannion - was clearly a happy man and stated, “I am delighted with the performance which was the best of the season but we are still not out of danger and simply must win our game against Leicester next Saturday to be certain of our National Status next season”

Team:

Latham, Moss, Collie, Lear, Bostock, Keane, Mursal & Baines. Rice, Winney, Jones C, Davenport, Hughes, Fisher & Chadwick.

Replacements: Brocklehurst, Harvey, Jones R & Newell.