Saddleworth 22 - 23 Mayfield

Mayfield progressed to the second round of the conference cup on Saturday after a lack lustre performance against Saddleworth. The division one side took Mayfield to extra time and only a Lewis Sheridan drop in the final minutes saw Mayfield through. It was nip and tuck all the way through this game although Mayfield were expected to win easily.

Saddleworth, without a league win this season, came out all guns blazing and defended well to keep Mayfield out despite three repeat sets on the Saddleworth line.

The Saddleworth forwards then drove up the middle of the field and found room to score under the posts and take a suprise lead.

Although it was an exciting game of rugby neither side played well with mistakes all over the field and both sides conceding needless penalties.

It took Mayfield until five minutes before half time to find their feet and the first time they played anything like their usual game, they showed they were too good for their opponents and a superbly timed pass from Paul Brearley found Seta Tala bursting onto the ball for a well taken try, converted by Lewis Sheridan.

From the restart poor Mayfield communication allowed the ball to go dead and Saddleworth regained possession and restored their lead just before the half time whistle.

The start of the second half again saw Saddleworth out enthusing Mayfield even if sometimes their play bordered on being over physical.

When Mayfield played rugby they were far too good, but it needed a stroke of luck to get them back on the score sheet as the referee missed an obvious Rob Kershaw knock on, and in the absence of the whistle he found Brearley with a neat inside ball and he sprinted 30 metres to level the scores. Sheridan converting his try. 

Both sides matched each other for the next twenty minutes with a converted try and a penalty apiece. Mayfield's coming courtesy of Brearley's second, and extra time was required.

The Mayfield spectators were definitely worried at this point having lost prop Mark Biggins with a broken rib and centre Dave Wood with a badly broken nose.

The Saddleworth second rower received his marching orders after having already had two spells in the sin bin.

Mayfield kept plugging away with Sean Mulcahy, Matty Moores and Gaz Ellison pounding at the defence.

There was no score in the first half of extra time but with five minutes gone of the second Mayfield took the lead with a brilliant 40 metre penalty conversion from Sheridan.

Dec Sheridan and Eric Johnson continued to probe the defence and urged the forwards on for one last push but with just four minutes remaining Saddleworth were awarded a penalty, for lying on, which their fullback duly slotted over to level the score.

It looked like this one was going to go all the way to the golden point until, with less than two minutes left on the clock, Quanici and Jake Boardman fought their way into the Saddleworth half for one final push and Dec Sheridan found brother Lewis in space and he popped over the winning drop goal from 30 metres.

Despite a poor performance from the premier division side it's Mayfield's name in the hat for the second round draw.

Quanici and Moores were solid in the forwards with good assistance from Ellison and Mulcahy.

In the backs Lewis Sheridan looked good along with Seta Tala while Dec Sheridan continues to make an impact from the bench.

The coaches man-of-the-match went to Paul Brearley.

Mayfield Team: Lewis Sheridan, Seta Tala, Liam Whalley, Dave Wood, Rob Kershaw, Paul Brearley, John Marsland, Mark Biggins, Eric Johnson, Matty Moores, Sean Mulcahy, Ryan Bradbury, Joe Quanici, Jake Boardman, Declan Sheridan, Andy Taylor, Gaz Ellison.