Widnes 42 Salford 20 Ladies Championship Round 1

 Anyone on the Widnes side who thought that the newly formed Salford Ladies team would be an easy take in Sundays opening league fixture at the home of the Halton Hornets amateur side must have had to amend their expectations quite rapidly as the game started to unfold in the most surprising of manners.

New sides take time to settle and to jell. They are unsure of one another and the hesitancy this leads to can cause the havoc in both attack and defence, and this new look Salford team comprised of fourteen brand new faces, the three survivors from last season being hooker and skipper Taz Corcoran, centre and joint vice captain Alex Simpson and fullback Anna Dennis.

When you look at them, however, who else but them would you have wanted in place of any of them, If you could only retain three individuals. It is not only their undeniable loyalty to the club, which they bring, it is the wonderful talent they each possess, and which will be so fundamental to the foundation and subsequent development of the team.

The game was a mere four minutes in, when, Dennis joined the Salford line and accelerated past three or four Widnes defenders to race 70 metres to the try line, rounding her opposite fullback on route to score between the posts, and then rub salt in the wound by adding the goal points to the score.

That first goal was going to prove a great cushion of comfort to the side thought-out the half, as Widnes twice tried and each time failed, to get back on even terms with the visitors. A dropped pass, on eleven minutes, gave possession to the home side in the Salford twenty and some rather weak tackling failed to stop a determined carry culminating in a try on the Salford left side bring the score to four points to six.

In the warm temperatures in which the game was being played, a break in play on 19 minutes was called for the players to rehydrate themselves, and immediately upon the resumption the visitors extended their lead once more, completing their set with a try by substitute Jodie Morris following a beautiful judged pass from Standoff Lily Oakley. From that well worked try Oakley went on to have a much greater impact on the attack, with her smooth silky passes prompting attacking runs into gaps, from the recipients, Morris meanwhile went on, to turn this solitary try into a brace with the last score of the afternoon.

A handling error shortly after the restart set Widnes up for another try , once again reducing the Salford lead from six to two points, at 8-10 on 24 minutes, but ten minutes later Alex Simpson caught the Widnes defence napping by scooting blind side to score out wide, Dennis celebrated this with a grand conversion from the touch line to take the team into a deserved 8-16 half time lead.

Sadly the second half was to be a very different story, getting off to the worst possible start with a knock on being adjudged, directly from kick off. This came as something of a surprise to many people watching from the side-line, who had thought that the ball had struck the Salford players leg rather than her arm or hand. There was to be no doubt about the outcome though with Widnes giving their confidence an immediate boost with a score close to the post, thereby narrowing their deficit once more to two points.

Three minutes later and they were in front for the first time as a result of first a penalty and then a set restart, as the Salford side struggled to adjust to the swing in momentum, and suffice it to say that the throughout the forty minutes they were almost completely starved of possession. It was, in fact, well into the eighth minute of the half before they actually touched the ball to start a set, and in total they would not have had any more than five sets of six tackles, not all of which they completed.

Their very last set of the game, however was finished off by Morris's second try which came as a result of a tremendous run by Dennis to set up the attacking position. It was no more than they deserved, and their concentration this week must be on the many positives of the first half

There is just so much talent within the team, which will become more and more evident as time goes on, such as that of loose forward Mia Regan who led the way in standing up to much bigger and superiorly physical opponents for the full eighty minutes.

Match report by David Clegg

Picture by Steve McCormick 

Salford team

1) Anna Dennis

2) Chloe Lyons

3) Eva Thomas

4) Alex Simpson

5) Sophie Roy

6) Lilly Oakley

7) Izzy Woods

8) Katrina Blencowe

9) Taz Corcoran

10) Lydia Elstone

11) Dearbhla Mccoy

12) Niamh Davidson

13) Mia Regan

subs

14) Jodie Morris

15) Bulak Dale Gaspalinao

16) Lucy Grant