Blackpool Scorpions came agonisingly close to claiming a much needed victory as they went down 32 – 24 against Folly Lane in a match that aptly fitted the old sporting adage “ a game of two halves”.
Scorpions were again forced to make a raft of changes as injuries and unavailability took their toll, with Karl Etherington, Mark Holden, Jordan Schreiber, Ben Simpson, John Parker and Marc Skelton all returning to the seventeen.
Blackpool got off to an awful start as poor tackling, handling errors and needless penalties allowed the home side to cross for three converted tries plus a penalty goal in the first quarter to build a 20 – 0 lead, with Scorpions suffering another blow as Marc Skelton and Jordan Schreiber were both forced off with leg injuries for the remainder of the game. The visitors slowly came into the game and after good work by Ryan Fuller and Max Rossall had carried them deep into the Folly half, the ball was spread out to the flanks with Keith Potter’s pass sending winger Antony Clark diving over in the corner.
Scorpion’s fell further behind when a towering kick from the hosts resulted in a further converted score before Blackpool had the final say of the half as powerful runs by Karl Davies and Luke Valente created the platform for Brett Whitehead and Phil Mitchell to combine to send Ben Simpson powering over the whitewash for a 26 – 8 halftime score.
A clearly fired up Blackpool, began the second half in at a furious pace and within minutes of the restart they had narrowed the hosts lead as a fine break by Joe Bullock resulted in Potter touching down under the posts, with Valente adding the conversion. Scorpions then made it back to back tries as a bulldozing run and pass by loose forward Danny Barr sent Bullock diving in, with Valente’s goal cutting the deficit between the two teams to only six points. At the other end of the field Blackpool’s defence showed more steel than it had in the first stanza as bone shuddering tackles by Liam Wilkinson, Mark Holden and John Parker amongst others forced the hosts into repeatedly coughing up possession
With ten minutes left the game still hung in the balance as both sides threw everything at each other. Unfortunately for Blackpool a momentary slip in defence allowed the Folly loose forward the gap to charge through and score with the conversion stretching the hosts lead to 12 points. Scorpions came back strongly and almost narrowed the margin on more than one occasion as only some scrambling defence from the hosts prevented Clark and Whitehead breaking through. Blackpool efforts did pay off as more good work by Davies and Fuller allowed Etherington to smash his way over from close range, but regrettably time had run out for the visitors with the game finishing 32 – 24.
Despite this loss, Scorpions can take plenty of positives from this game especially from their second half performance. A number of players had fine games for Blackpool, but in the end the man of the match honours fittingly went to loose forward Danny Barr, who carried the team forward all day long and lead the way with some thundering tackles in defence. Scorpions will be hoping to get back on the winning track when they play host to Barrow side Roose Pioneers next Saturday.
Team: Joe Bullock, Antony Clark, Keith Potter, Phil Mitchell, Jordan Schreiber, Brett Whitehead, Liam Wilkinson, Ryan Fuller, Luke Valente, Karl Davies, Karl Etherington, Max Rossall, Danny Barr
Subs: Marc Skelton, Ben Simpson, Mark Holden, John Parker
Tries: Joe Bullock, Antony Clark, Karl Etherngton, Ben Simpson, Keith Potter
Goals: Valente 2/3, Etherington 0/1, Whitehead 0/1
