Error-strewn match puts paid to Moor mini-revival.

Moor’s match away at Oldham on Saturday was probably the most error-strewn of the season and extremely frustrating for both sets of spectators. A constant drizzle before and during the game did not help, as this made the underfoot conditions very greasy and the ball difficult to grasp, but the number of dropped catches and passes, especially by Moor, was difficult to comprehend. As it turned out, had anyone arrived late, they could well have missed the action, as all the scoring occurred in the first 10 minutes.

Moor kicked off, quickly turned the ball over and following five or six phases of excellent rucking and mauling were rewarded after only 3 minutes with a try by captain Nick Smith, the conversion by Shaun Stirrup going just wide. At that point, Moor supporters must have thought that a repeat of the game between the sides before Christmas was on the cards when Moor had a comfortable win at Green Lane. This was not to be as despite having most of the possession and position in the first period, Moor seemed incapable of keeping hold of the ball whenever in an attacking position with numerous passes going to ground or missing their intended target. On the 10 minute mark, Oldham put a speculative kick high into the air and this was promptly dropped by a Moor defender, allowing the home side’s outside centre to run on, collect the loose ball and sprint in to score out wide; the conversion again being missed. Despite this setback, Moor continued to dominate in loose and tight play, even having the advantage of numbers when an Oldham back-row player was yellow-carded, but the side was still unable to break the stalemate and half-time found the score remaining at 5-5.

The least said about the second half the better, other than that play was split more evenly and it looked as if it would be a mistake that would allow one of the sides to take the lead. In the last 10 minutes, both teams failed with penalty kicks in an attempt to snatch victory, with Moor’s being a very ambitious effort from just over the halfway line. Following this they did have a good chance of adding to their try-tally, when lock Ben Jones burst out, charged up the touch line but just failed to get a pass out to an unmarked Martin Shelley who would have sprinted in unopposed. With the last play of the game, Moor attempted a final, desperate penalty kick, again from just over midway, but this fell short and the game ended in a 5-5 draw. One pleasing aspect of the game, was the return of winger Ivan Smetana after a 15 week lay-off due to injury and the continued progression of the younger players recently brought into the squad.