Longton . . . 7pts Caldy . . . 15pts

by Colin Free

CALDY chalked up their third unbeaten game in a row on Saturday with a vital win over one of the other sides seeking to avoid relegation from the Powergen League North Division One.

This game had been in severe doubt due to a waterlogged pitch before the League Management instructed that the hosts find an alternative venue if necessary. This resulted in the game being switched to Longton's new ground, which is close to Stoke City FC's Britannia Stadium.

Caldy applied all the early pressure. Marcus Coast gave them a 3-0 lead with a penalty kick after nine minutes, but four minutes later Longton were level, fly-half Scott Rawlings on target to level matters with another penalty opportunity.

Rawlings then gave the home side a 6-3 interval lead.

On 51 minutes, Caldy took the lead. A good chip ahead from Chris Young had the Longton defence scrambling inside their 22. Sam Dickinson followed up well and Jack Parker scored just inside the right touch flag (6-8).

Then a fine break from Ben Wylie put Caldy deep into Longton territory and from a resulting scrummage it was Wylie who joined the back line to score. Coast converted for 6-15.

A fabulous Caldy move was started by a darting break by Ian Martin. The ball was taken on by Ben Wylie and the try finally scored under the posts by Gareth Bansor. Coast added the conversion (6-22).

Coast himself then made a good break to feed Wylie, who bagged his brace of tries for the day. Coast's conversion took the score to 6-29 as the game went into time added on.

Caldy second row Paul Campbell was red carded for retaliation.