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Crocs win it the hard way
Old Crossleyans 19 - Winnington Park 7 AN unfamiliar looking Crocs line up produced a battling performance to earn victory over Cheshire based Winnington Park in the first round of the EDF Energy Intermediate Cup.
And they did it the hard way by forging ahead then hanging on to the lead doggedly after 80 minutes in which amazingly they were not awarded a single penalty.
In the early stages, excellent work at the set pieces and Tony Waite's siege gun boot established a series of good positions, and the home pack looked set to charge over only for the opposition scrum half to appear to spoil the move, and the moment was lost.
That incident was typical of the opening half an hour with Crossleyans continually frustrated by their inability to build any sustained possession against their weaker opponents, and they paid the price when Winnington Park's big lock forward forced his way through some weak tackles to go over under the posts for the first score of the afternoon.
But that proved the wake up call the home side needed and from then on things started to get better with Richard Heighington making some strong carries and Mark Jowett a revelation in the lineout.
They thought they had finally broken through just before the break after Joel Hinchliffe's deft kick to the corner only for the subsequent touchdown to be disallowed.
Crocs were not discouraged and started the second half strongly with substitute Simon Normanton making his first of a series of heroic catches and Neil Richardson making good ground.
The home pressure continued to build and after a series of drives following good work at the lineout, Ryan Hammond executed a perfectly weighted grubber kick behind the defence and Shane Davis touched down out wide.
Hinchliffe narrowly missed the conversion, but after Waite's superb kicking relieved a spell of visiting pressure, they poured forward again and Adam Hinchliffe took a great line off his cousin's inside flip pass to crash over under the posts for a great score which Joel Hinchcliffe converted.
Good build up play in their opponent's half in which the Michael brothers Terry and Paul were prominent then set up Richardson to score under the posts and extend the lead, Hinchliffe again converting, and though Winnington Park then applied sustained pressure in the final quarter, the home side held on to book a place in the next round.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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