Preston Grasshoppers 27 Sedgley Park 35: Hoppers push leaders all the way
Preston Grasshoppers pushed the league leaders all the way in a Hallowe’en thriller but fell agonisingly short of picking up even a consolation bonus point, writes Paul Outhwaite.
Preston Grasshoppers pushed the league leaders all the way in a Hallowe’en thriller but fell agonisingly short of picking up even a consolation bonus point.
Hoppers led 27-14 after an hour but Sedgley Park’s strength In depth saw them maintain their season-long unbeaten run at the top of National League Two North.
“I am unbelievably proud,” said Hoppers head coach Dan Orwin. “Although the defeat is a tough one to take. We had them rattled, but small margins made the difference.
“That’s why Sedgley are top of the league.”
Hoppers had their chances to salvage both a losing bonus point and a four-try bonus, but the option to spurn two late penalty kicks in favour of a possible fourth touchdown didn’t work out.
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However, Orwin backed his players’ decision and praised their collective effort in what many fans saw as one of the best games for quite some time.
Sedgley opened the scoring through Jack Ellam from a line-out drive, converted by ex-Hopper Greg Smith.But the hosts hit back with a classic try by Sam Freeman, which he also converted.
Then when Park lost an attacking line-out, Hoppers broke away and Jacob Browne’s kick and chase brought a penalty from which Dec Norrington crashed over.
Freeman’s conversion took him to 100 points for the season. With Matt Sturgess in the sinbin and Josh Longson off with a dislocated shoulder, Sedgley equalised with a try by Danny Rylance, converted by Smith.
A break by the excellent Ben Haigh teed up a penalty for Freeman and he added a second after the break.
When Park got in a defensive muddle following another kick-chase, Browne capitalised for his seventh try of the campaign, converted by Freeman, but it became backs to the wall for Hoppers as Park rang the changes from the bench and piled on the pressure.
Despite some heroic defence, Hoppers conceded three converted tries in 10 minutes, but they never gave up and forced their opponents into desperate defence.Sadly, the brave decision to go for tries instead of three points failed to pay off.