Sat 24 Jan 2026
With some notable absences, Eccles lined up with Connor at prop, Cunningham at lock, Evans at blindside, Candland at Fly-Half, Gardiner at Centre, White on the wing and the unfamiliar couplings within the team found the visitors struggling to move through the gears in a stuttering first half performance, where any momentum was soon lost through errors and penalties, which were plentiful (4 against Liverpool St Helens, 11 against Eccles).
In cold, dry conditions, Eccles kicked off and Liverpool St Helens, with the wind at their backs, returned the ball with a deep kick into the Eccles 22, where play mostly remained for the first 10 minutes. Possession was regularly regained by Eccles only to be fumbled within a few phases. An opportunity to break was squandered with a weak box kick into the wind, inviting LSH to maintain their attacking pressure and, with Eccles yet to leave their territory, more poor decisions in front of the posts presented the hosts with the opportunity to take the lead.
10’ 3-0 PENALTY LSH
Eccles reacted to their slumbering start and a midfield scrum driving LSH backwards set the platform for their first attack with Mercer, Ackers-Johnson and White combining to advance play into the 22 before some sloppy passing and a slow clear out lost the ball. Not much was clicking for the visitors, mistakes were proving costly and as the penalty count totted up Eccles were toiling to make any headway in the game until 20 minutes, when an effective counter attack was sparked by slick passing and speed from the Ackers-Johnson, Parkinson, White backline causing panic in the LSH defence. A penalty was awarded to Eccles and kicked towards the corner where it was prevented from finding touch but knocked-on. From the successful Eccles 10m scrum, Longford charged from the base and was stopped short of the goal line, Cullen quickly fired the ball out across the field to Candland, Parkinson accelerated the attack towards the posts and offloaded to White bursting through on his shoulder to score a well worked try to the side of the posts.
22’ 3-7 TRY ECCLES (White) CONV (Parkinson).
However, this positive response was short lived. From the restart a high tackle by Eccles gave Liverpool St Helens midfield penalty and good passing form the hosts put the winger into free space out wide to score in the comer.
25’ 8-7 TRY LSH.
Handing errors from both teams gave the Eccles forwards the opportunity to demonstrate their authority in a series of scrums but all too often the Eccles backs were guilty of forcing their play when breaking out and another penalty inside the 22 allowed the hosts to extend their lead.
29’ 11-7 PENALTY LSH.
Two more penalties after the restart had Eccles heads spinning and once again defending too narrowly, allowing LSH to capitalise and move the ball out to the wing, where they scored in the corner.
33’ 18-7 TRY LSH.
The first half ended with Eccles mounting an attack from a midfield scrum into the 22, with Mercer breaking through with the ball and Coop and Connor contributing strong carries before play was bought back for an infringement in front of the posts. Eccles opted for the scrum and two attempts were made to move the attack out to Ackers-Johnson who was unable to find a way through on the wing, and with the ball in touch in the corner the half was brought to a conclusion.
HT 18-7
Eccles had been careless in possession, disputed in defence and needed to get it together. Replacements Dodd, Cresswell and Long entered the game and Coop pouched the ball to get the second half underway. With the wind behind them a promising attack by the backs up the left flank faltered when the final pass out wide was hesitated. Eccles maintained possession inside the 22 and when the ball was lost good jackal work from Burdon saw the Penalty Pendulum swing in favour of Eccles. Quick thinking from Spooner further increased the pressure on the LSH defence who had a man sent to the bin.
45’ YELLOW LSH
Eccles enjoyed good attacking possession for the next 10 minutes but failed to take advantage, often conspiring to loose the ball at critical moments with poor handling. An attempted LSH break out was arrested by an excellent Mercer tackle paired with expert Candland jackal, earning Eccles a penalty kick opportunity to move play back into the 22. Good passing progressed by a strong drive from Dodd resulted in another penalty and from the Eccles scrum in front of the sticks, in a similar move to the first half, Longford changed in, Cullen fired out to Candland and a terrific pass out wide released Ackers-Johnson to speed in and score.
55’ 18-14 TRY ECCLES (Ackers-Johnson) CONV (Parkinson)
Handling errors continued to hamper Eccles but the pack maintained the pressure on LSH through strong scrummaging and once inside the hosts 22 a slick Candland pass to Mercer appeared to have unlocked the next score but the chance was squandered. Another penalty scrum gave Eccles anther chance but this too was fumbled in front of the posts. From the next scrum LSH are pushed back but escape briefly with the ball only for another penalty to give Eccles the opening to take the lead with Mercer speeding in to score out wide.
65’ YELLOW LSH
65’ 18-19 TRY ECCLES (Mercer).
At the restart Coop caught the ball, with Burdon and Longford driving the ball forward with strong carries through middle but this attack fizzles out with Eccles yet again loosing the ball by forcing their midfield passing. Undeterred, from the scrum possession was regained and Spooner initiated the attack, driving up the left flank, play was stretched right across the field to the right wing before returning back to the left where Spooner was free to stroll in and score in the corner, where he was hit with a late LSH challenge punished with a card; the conversion was short, dipping under the crossbar.
72’ 18-24 TRY ECCLES (Spooner)
72’ YELLOW LSH
The game was restarted with a scrum on halfway line. All Eccles were required to do was keep possession and composure, instead the ball was dropped three times leading to three more scrums in the space of 3 minutes. As the match entered the final minutes, the frenetic, messy play was held up at the halfway line until a series of three penalties awarded to LSH allowed the hosts to quick tap their way into the Eccles 22, where Spooner, held into a ruck, was punished for not rolling away. A further penalty and card was awarded against the Captain and another quick tap saw LSH score between the posts to claim an unexpected, last gasp victory for the hosts.
79’ YELLOW ECCLES (Spooner)
80’ YELLOW ECCLES (Cox)
80+1’ 25-24 LSH TRY. CONV.
FT 25-24
In reflecting on this performance, Eccles will no doubt see similarities to the defeat to Broughton Park in November, with a slumbering start, unforced errors, unnecessary risks, a high penalty count and yellow cards in the last few minutes, leading inevitably to a series of penalties and a late score in the last play of the match.
LSH took every opportunity presented to them. Eccles failed to take control of the game and failed to take their chances. There were moments of skill and some good rugby played between the numerus stoppages and penalties, but over all the collective Eccles performance was well below the standard reached in recent games. Plenty to put right in the next match, away at TMV on Saturday.
