At the end of a traumatic week for West, with the Coach stepping down, it was Club Captain Brett Cullinane and team skipper Davy Tighe, who were in charge of a fighting performance,
Sadly for Tighe it earned him a red card right on half time. He had gone to the aid of winger Darren Thomas who was on his back with two Stockport players threatening him from above. Tighe pushed one away and he tumbled over the crowd barrier. Referee Calum Fraser yellow carded home winger Dan Eccles before sending Tighe off for “ungentlemanly conduct.”
It was a bitter blow for West with Tighe in his best form so far this season. With the wind and slope behind them Stockport had only managed to get five points on the board despite starting like a train.
They laid siege to the West line in the opening minutes - hoping to finish where they left off in their 68 point thumping of Aspatria last week.
But only South African hooker Bertie Johnson could beat the visiting defence picking up from a maul to dive over in the 5th minute.
West then frustrated both the home team, and their supporters, with some tremendous tackling. Stockport began giving penalties away and, with West putting in more effort than any other away match so far this season, the game became more and more ragged.
The visitor's confidence grew and it was West who were applying all the pressure in the last ten minutes of a fairly dour half. Both Tim Sawyer and Andrew Davies were held close to the line as the pack picked and drove the home defence back.
Anth Carr did get over the line on 37 minutes but he was judged to have been held up.
Stockport, who provide the training facilities for Sale Sharks and have the benefit of several of their Academy players, were rocking. Scrum half Simon Baker was sent to the sin-bin on 37 minutes as they repeatedly killed the ball to thwart West attacks.
The last play of the game was the one where Darren Thomas was given a rare chance to race along his wing. When he was tackled into touch his opposite number Dan Eccles and centre Marc Smith took exception to his strenuous efforts to get back to his feet and get the ball back into play. Tighe may regret his fairly meek intervention by missing some vital games.
The second half began with the home side down to 13 for the first ten minutes and West down to 14 for the full 40.
Phil Wallis intelligently used the win to kick for territory and we were camped in the home 22. Once again Stockport killed the ball and Wallis missed an easy penalty from almost in front of the posts.
Carl Miller, having a fine game in his return to the side, almost went over in the corner after a line-out and then on 46 minutes we finally put a backs move together which gave Martin Todd with a half chance. But he was tackled by full back Graeme Smith as he cut inside.
Then finally got the score we deserved when Darren Thomas, now at scrum half in place of Tighe, picked up from the base of a maul and nipped in from five metres. Wallis made amends for his penalty miss with a fine conversion from wide on the left.
Despite being down to 14 West were using the elements and had been looking the stronger but almost from the kick off they lost their 7-5 advantage.
The kick was knocked on and Stockport swept up the left wing to create a two man overlap with replacement flanker Peter Bredenkamp going in at the corner.
West replaced the injured Dan Boatman with Henry Tones and continued to worry the 15 men of Stockport. The next score was vital and it came courtesy of a penalty when Tim Sawyer was sin-binned for killing the ball some 30 metres out. Another replacement, fly half Ben Chadwick, added the three points.
Down to 13 men West continued to play the game in the Stockport half but were unable to breach the home defence.
Instead, it was the home side who increased their lead when they fought their way up the slope and set up a fast driving maul which looked like getting over the line until the referee judged that West had pulled it down. He had no hesitation in awarding a penalty try which finished off West’s hopes of making progress in the competition.
It was a far more spirited performance with Club Captain Brett Cullinane delighted by the team spirit on display.
He said: “It has been a strange week but it has brought the players together and we all played for each other and the club today.
“Davy was very unlucky because he went to push somebody away to protect a team-mate who was on the ground.
“But the real turning point of the game came when we knocked on from the restart immediately after taking the lead. They punished us for that mistake and we never recovered.
“Now we must take that spirit into next week’s game against Morpeth who are top of our league.”
Stockport: Graeme Smith, Ben Dawson, Dave Holehouse, Marc Smith, Dan Eccles, Matt Leyden [ Ben Chadwick], Simon Baker [Chris Parrott], Steve Williams, Bertie Johnson [Zak Hammonds], Tom Mantell, Paul Raphs, Simon Drew, Dave Oakley, John Wilson [Peter Bredenkamp], Nick Royle,

West: James Masshedar [Greg Edwards], Martin Todd, Peter Hodgson, Allan Milne, Darren Thomas, Phil Wallis, Davy Tighe, Anth Carr, Brett Cullinane, Carl Robinson, Andrew Davies, Carl Miller, Jon Boatman, Dan Boatman [Henry Tones], Tim Sawyer.