Preston Grasshoppers 31 Lymm 44: Survival battle goes to the final day
Preston Grasshoppers squandered the chance to secure their National Two North future as their composure deserted them when taking a two-point lead into the last quarter.
Despite having full-back Andy Rowley in the sinbin for 10 of those minutes, Lymm clocked up 15 points to leave Hoppers with just a four-try bonus point.
They go into their last game, at Chester in two weeks’ time, next to bottom and only two points ahead of Harrogate in the battle for survival.
Hoppers had made a dogged comeback after the shock of conceding 14 points in the opening 150 seconds, but wasted far too many scoring opportunities; including more than one overlap.
Their day to forget was summed up by an interception try in the closing minutes as they desperately ran the ball from deep, attempting to salvage a losing bonus point.
Head coach Dan Orwin was frustrated that his players drifted “off script”, while centre Ed Keohane conceded that Hoppers “lost momentum” and “started making the wrong decisions.”
He added: “It was in our hands but it got away,” while two-try winger Tyler Spence said after his last home game before retirement: “We showed character and quality to get back into it, but we lacked the mindset to close out the game.”
Poor defending handed Lymm winger Will Day those two early tries, converted by Alfie Simpson, who also kicked a penalty.
Spence’s first try was created by Josh Ree, who also converted before adding a second try and the extras.
Lymm went in at the break with a 29-14 lead after Cal Morris scored from a tap penalty and Sam Wadsworth carved through another gaping hole for a converted try.
Hoppers were a changed side on the restart, scoring through Spence and pushover tries for Josh Longson and Danny Maher.
A Ree conversion gave them the lead, but they imploded in conceding tries to Sam Millachip and Morris’ interception score, plus a Simpson conversion and penalty.