Sun 8 Dec 2019, 11:00
This week’s visitors to Gorton Street were Winnington Park who contributed to a competitive match played in blustery conditions.
Straight from the kick off Eccles dominated possession and territory and this relentless pressure was rewarded when Bailey scored his first try for Eccles, reaching out to place the ball down in the corner following an excellent break by Matty who cut through the defence and was eventually hauled down 5 metres from the line. The try came about as Eccles charged down an attempt from the visitors to clear their lines which turned out to be a theme throughout the game as Winnington Park found it difficult to withstand the constant stream of attacking play from Eccles. Jack continued his excellent kicking this week and slotted over the 2 points from the side line.
James almost doubled the lead following more slick handling but fell inches short despite his best efforts and following a couple of Eccles handling errors at the line out, Winnington Park broke down their left-hand side and only an excellent cover tackle by Leighton prevented the score. This proved to be short lived though as another turnover at an Eccles line out enabled the away team to crash over in the corner and another great kick levelled the score at 7 -7.
The visitors score stirred Eccles into life and following some excellent set up play by the forwards who continually drove the opposition backwards, Joe found some space at the back of the maul and spotted Matty who turned try scorer this time, going over by the posts giving Jack an easy 2 points.
Eccles continued to play the game in the opposition 22 and some more tenacious defence put Winnington Park under severe pressure and Lucas was rewarded with an opportunist try as he pounced on a loose pass and grounded the ball which gave Eccles a 21 – 7 lead at half time as Jack kept up his 100% record.
The second half continued in a similar vein to the first with Eccles piling forward at every chance and they were unlucky not to add to their tally but some resolute defending combined with some over eagerness kept the score the same until Lucas scythed through the visitors line which forced Winnington Park to concede a penalty 10 yards out. Eccles composed themselves and the tap restart went from Joe to Jack C through to Jack who dived over unopposed to give himself another easy conversion.
Eccles final try of the morning came from James who got his reward for a strong running game by finishing off a penalty tap and powering over to the left of the upright. The Winnington Park defence looked weary and the move started in our own half which included an audacious through the legs pass from Sam with the ball finding its way out wide to Leighton who was tackled a few yards short
Winnington Park had their best spell of the game towards the final whistle and almost scored in the left corner but some strong defence kept them at bay but a handling error in an attempt to force their way up field gave the away side a scrum from which they managed to plant the ball down and complete the scoring with the last action of the match.
All in all , it was a dominant performance from Eccles who are growing in confidence with every match which puts the team in a great position for the rest of the season.
FT 35-14
