Lymm 17 Wirral 21

Wirral extended their winning streak to six games and had the opportunity to win this game against their Cheshire neighbours, more easily than the score suggests.

Playing against the wind but with the slope, Wirral were soon behind to an early lymm penalty from Richard Macca.

Thereafter with both teams looking to play open rugby, it was Wirral who began to apply the early pressure and as early as the ninth minute were denied a try when held up over the line.

The breakthrough came in the lih minute when Craig Harvey put in Ali Baker for the winger to score under the posts, duly converted by James Annetts.

Three minutes later a high kick downfield from lymm was collected by Ali Baker, 70m out and immediately broke the first line of defence and then outpaced the remaining defenders to score close to the posts, again converted by James Annetts.

With Wirral playing such enterprising rugby, the miss of the season came when Wirral breached the Lymm defence again, created the overlap and a pass to the right winger was dropped with the line at his mercy.

Wirral's final score came in the 34th minute, having again being held up over the line again the ball was recycled and Craig Harvey set up a try for brother, Dan and it was Craig who converted to leave the score 3-21 at half time.

The second half started with Wirral again in control and putting Lymm under significant pressure.

Turning down penalty kick opportunities as they strove for the try bonus point, such a try was denied as for the third time they were deemed to be held up over the line.

Final and dropped passes denied Wirral much to their frustration as they were in full control of thegame.

In the final quarter, Lymm came into the game and good inter passing allowed the home team to make progress and it was no surprise when in the 68th minute when a wellexecuted move gave lymm their first try through Richard Halford, converted by Macca.

This gave the home side the confidence to take on the Wirral defence and were rewarded with a further try by Andy Kerr through a back row move when Wirral were down to 14 men.

The final five minutes were somewhat frantic as Lymm sought a potential upset but Wirral held out for a deserved win after seven minutes of additional time.

Wirral retain their second place in the league as they prepare to play Burnage at home next week.