Under 08

Sandbach 25 - Stockport 25 Sun 17 December 2000 A very closely fought match against a team we knew from last year to be capable of stretching us. Despite winning the kick off Sandbach lost the ball early with some poor passing and Stockport immediately made us pay for this by scoring the first try. Somewhat stung into action, the home team began to look a little more serious and this time retained the ball better. The equalising try came from a good break, which Stockport managed to cover, but great support play by Sandbach left a wide gap in the corner into which the actual try was straightforward. Thereafter (with the help of some confusion over where the touch lines were) the scores went with possession, and it was 15-15 at half time. In the second half the game remained similarly closely contested with Stockport leading by virtue of having the ball at the restart. Just after Stockport had edged ahead to 25-20, the referee announced that we were now at full time and were on the final play. A tense few minutes followed as Sandbach determinedly headed for the visitor's line while Stockport defended fiercely to hang onto their lead. All credit to Sandbach for maintaining error free possession of the ball before forcing a gap to appear through to the try line. Try scorers: Barton (2), Stops, Robinson (2). Derek Jepson