Mayfield 38 - 36 Siddal

Photo: Aidy Gleeson

Mayfield 38 - 36 Siddal

Mayfield just shaded a great game of rugby league played by two quality sides and the large crowd showed their appreciation.

Brearley was the difference between the sides looking dangerous every time he touched the ball and his defence was simply awesome. He wasn't the only one though, Liam Whalley and Ben Butterworth tackled everything that moved along with Mulcahy and Ellison.

In the backs Tala was again impressive as was the ever youthful Sam Butterworth while Lewis and Declan Sheridan showed they have the class to play a part in the Mayfield side for years to come.

Mayfield started the game strongly with a try after just three minutes as the returning Paul Brearley stamped his authority on the game, Lewis Sheridan converted.

The Mayfield forwards were outstanding this week with Brearley giving them a much needed lift. Mark Biggins and Matty Moores at props were particularly impressive and their work rate was fantastic.

Siddal levelled the scores after ten minutes with some help from the referee and linesmen who were the only people in the ground not to spot a blatant knock on.

From the restart Brearley managed to regain possesion and Mayfield stormed toward the Siddal line with Matt Calland and Lewis Sheridan making the yards before Dave Wood took the ball and crossed the line to give his side the lead.

This was a real thriller of a game flowing end-to-end.

Siddal regained the lead with a well taken score after the home defence was caught napping.

Mayfield replied immediately after being awarded a penalty from the kick off, Sean Mulcahy and Gaz Ellison did the donkey work carrying the ball to the Siddal ten where Sam Butterworth found Brearley who bagged his second try.

The crowd was loving this and they went crazy five minutes later when Sam Butterworth kicked through on the last tackle and managed to re-gather for a brilliant score.

Siddal are a good side and they didn't lie down as they pressured the Mayfield line getting three sets on the bounce before a crossfield kick found the winger who looked five metres offside at least; after consulting the linesman the ref waived away Mayfield's protests and the try stood.

Mayfield started the second half like the first looking very strong with wingers Seta Tala and Rob Kershaw both coming in and taking the weight off the forwards and sharing the workload. They pressed the Siddal defence until Todd O'Brien outsmarted them with a kick through on the last which Lewis Sheridan followed up and touched down then converted his own try.

Siddal then enjoyed their best spell of the game as they scored three unanswered tries to make the score 26 - 30.

They must have thought they had done enough at that stage to go on and win the game but they hadn't figured with the resolve of the Mayfield side, with Matt Calland spurring them on they upped their defensive effort, led by Ben Butterworth, Liam Whalley and Joe Quanici they snuffed out the Siddal attack.

The re-introduction of Declan Sheridan saw Mayfield up the tempo again and it wasn't long before Matty Moores powered through three defenders for a Lewis Sheridan converted try.

Mayfield continued to press but were unfortunate after a long ball from Butterworth was brilliantly intercepted by his opposite number who then raced 70 Metres to score in the corner.

With only a couple of minutes left Siddal looked like they had stolen the points from Mayfield.

Again Mayfield fought their way towards the Siddal line and with only seconds on the clock Brearley went at the defenders on the last tackle and managed to get a kick away despite the attention of two tacklers. Todd O'Brien followed the kick and got a hand to it to level the score with the conversion to come. Lewis Sheridan stepped up and coolly slotted the ball over for the two points to win the game for Mayfield.

The sponsors gave their Man-of-the-Match award to Dave Wood while the opposition coach named Joe Quanici as his Man-of-the-Match.

Mayfield: Lewis Sheridan, Seta Tala, Matt Calland, Rob Kershaw, Paul Brearley, Sam Butterworth, Matty Moores, Todd O'Brien, Mark Biggins,Liam Whalley, Ben Butterworth, Joe Quanici, Sean Mulcahy, Gaz Ellison,Declan Sheridan, Wayne Corcoran.