Moor play 'Get out of Jail' card to limp to home win.

Any thoughts that Moor supporters might have had that this game against a side some five positions lower in the league table might be a shoe-in for a comfortable home victory were soon dispelled as Upper Eden out-played and out-thought the Green Lane side for all of the first half and a good deal of the second. Possibly this view might have also affected the players, but if it did it should act as a wake-up call for the rest of the season.

The writing was on the wall from the start as Moor failed to secure the ball from the kick-off and the side then spent the next fifteen minutes pinned in its own half. On each occasion that Moor players had the chance to break out, they either made the wrong decision, carried out the move badly or had the ball turned over in both loose and tight play. This allowed their Kirkby Stephen-based opposition to keep them under constant pressure, which was eventually rewarded with a converted try following a lineout on the Moor 22. On two further occasions only solid defensive work by Moor prevented the visitors from extending their lead when forward drives were stopped just short of the try line and they were also only just wide with a penalty kick. In contrast, Moor had only two clear-cut scoring chances in the first half and on each occasion the final pass was dropped with the line at their mercy. It was some relief when the interval whistle sounded with only a 7-0 lead for Upper Eden.

Moor continued to perform below par after the resumption. Time and again play was lateral, passes were poorly executed and moves were laboured. As the half progressed it was difficult to see where the two scores necessary to win the game would come from but there was eventually a slow, discernable transfer of advantage to the home side. With less than a quarter of the match to go, Moor were now beginning to dominate the set pieces and forcing the opposition onto the back foot. Eventually the Upper Eden defence was breached when the ball was passed cleanly along the Moor back line and centre Petr Stourac made a break to score near the posts, the conversion being a formality for scrum-half Shaun Stirrup. Four minutes later, fly-half Zander Claassen produced a clever piece of footwork as he glided through the smallest of gaps to touch down, Stirrup again converting and Moor took the lead for the first time. This spurred the visitors into action as they attempted to save the game and the last five minutes were spent camped on the Moor line but the latter withstood all that was thrown at them to run out 14-7 winners and can take some comfort from the fact that they were still able to win although playing badly.