Sun 19 Jan 2020, 11:00
Eccles welcomed Widnes to Gorton Street for the first home fixture of 2020 and put in a strong all-round performance to come out on the right side of a closely fought battle
Eccles laid down a marker for the game with the very first tackle of the match when Leighton tackled the Widnes winger from kick off and although a penalty was given it proved to set the tone for the next 60 minutes of tenacious defence and strong powerful running.
The initial stages saw both sides testing each other out with plenty of ball retention and some good handling despite the icy fog surrounding the pitch , the forwards maintained excellent control in the rucks and set the ball back nicely whilst also flexing their muscles in the scrum by almost pushing the opposition pack off the ball only for the scrum needing to be re-set.
Some strong midfield running by Jack almost broke the deadlock when he made a half break but the ball was lost whilst trying to keep the play alive whilst James constantly punched holes in the Widnes defence to keep Eccles playing on the front foot.
The first try for the home side came again from some strong running which saw Lucas touch down almost unseen by the spectators partly due to the pea-souper but also down to the fact everyone was a little unsure apart from Lucas who reacted first and grounded the ball in front of the posts and when Jack obliged with the extra 2 points it gave Eccles a deserved 7 - 0 lead.
Jack Coz pouched the kick off and with the bit between their teeth Eccles drove the ball forward and looked certain to add to their try tally only for Widnes to concede a penalty which Jack slotted over to stretch the lead further approaching half time 10 – 0 up.
Eccles continued to test the Widnes defence and only a combination of handling errors and penalties prevented Eccles from putting more points on the board and it was in fact the visitors who scored the next points after a smart kick through from the Widnes back forced Sam to kick the ball dead giving the visitors a scrum 5 metres out and when the scrum was formed at the second time of asking the Widnes flanker dived over following a smart pick up on the short side and a nice conversion from the left of the posts meant the Eccles lead was cut to 3 points as the whistle blew for half time.
The second half saw a raft of changes for the home side with most of the forwards being replaced but the same intensity and resolute defending continued.
Widnes seemed to change tactics early on and decided that their best chance came from focusing on a kicking game and this almost paid dividends early on but some excellent cover defence kept them at bay , the back 3 of Eccles were kept honest with kicks turning the defence around but the superior fitness means there was always support in numbers to nullify any threats.
Eccles third and final try came from more strong defence as Widnes became frustrated they couldn’t breach the line with any regularity and an optimistic pass from Widnes was taken in by the birthday boy Matty who showed the defence a clear pair of heels as he galloped 25 metres and dived over in the corner to secure the win despite the kick going wide - this score seemed to knock the stuffing out of Widnes who although they tried hard they came up against more fearsome tackling , none more than Jack Coz who forced the would be Widnes attack into touch twice in the closing stages.
A really strong squad performance saw Eccles extend their winning run to 6 games and with some important games coming up the game showed the depth in talent the team has with undoubtedly more to come.
FT 15-7
