Stanley were in average form this week and had to endure a defeat that left us all very disappointed with an 18-12 win to Brighouse.

The opening to the game looked very bright and we had the making of Brighouse at the early part and when Jordan O,Niell scored a superb solo individual try we looked like we could capitalise and go on to win. The side panicked however and on two occasions failed to score tries when all it needed was a simple pass out to bag a four pointer. Tommy Grant was in top form charging at the opposition pack and was the best front rower on the park for both sides.

This was the period that we began to concede penalties and after a succession of offences, we were on our own line and at 35 minutes of the first half we could not hold them and they scored to level. This try however was awarded as a penalty try, and again gave them the 9th consecutive set. Stanley again conceded 2 further penalties and at 40 minutes of the first half we could not stop the opposition from scoring. The first half saw Big Tommy Gant totally dominate up front and after a masterful display of front row toughness was awarded the Stanley Man of the Match.

The high point of the first half was Jordan O'Neill's wonder try on the back of a 40 yard run from Thomas Sowerby, and a tremendous scoot from Harry Hirst, that allowed Jordan the space and time to leave no less than 5 defenders behind as he stepped and brushed past to score a super solo try.

The second half started as the first finished with a succession of penalties against us which was very frustrating, but we held on, and started to look like the team we know we are. Thomas Sowerby however during this period made 3 one on one tackles against three of the biggest attackers to save three certain tries. Thomas for this defensive effort and some superb running was awarded Opposition Man of the Match. Correy Eaton throughout did not stop probing and asking questions, and along with other standout player Alex Clegg caused no end of problems for Brighouse.

The score at this stage was 14 to 6 to Brighouse, and when we finally got the ball on our own line Thomas Sowerby scooted and took us to the halfway line, the ball was moved across field and again Thomas scooted and took us to within 15 metres of the line. He threw the ball back inside, where Harry Hirst drew the full back, and tipped to Ryan Strafford who scored a superb try with only inches to spare in the corner. The score was 16 to 10 and Cozzer kicked the conversion from bang on the touchline to bring us to within 4 points at 16 to 12. Stanley however were then penalised in possession and the Brighouse penalty was successful, making the score 18 to 12.

At the last set of the game Stanley had the ball, Hobson tipped to Thomas Sowerby who ran and tipped to Harry Hirst who ran 30 metres to get to within 10 metres of the try line. The quick play the ball saw Correy throw what looked like a good pass out to Tommy Gant but he was pulled back as he crossed the try line for a forward pass, making the final score 18-12 to the home side.

The whole side gave 110% and with the above mentioned players we also had top performances from TJ, just back from injury, and the entire pack who were outweighed but held their own throughout. The team look forward to the return game at Stanley and hope for a better completion rate and a better result.

The next game is a trip to Birstall who beat us last time out, so we need to improve our game from this week to get any chance of a result.