Leigh Miners Rangers 92 Siddal 0
Records tumbled at Twist Lane on Saturday as Miners put a much-changed Siddal side to the sword. With the Halifax side also engaged in a BARLA National Cup quarter final on the same day the Chevinedgers’ team contained few familiar faces and they ran into a Miners side in no mood to be compassionate as they ran in the points from first whistle to last. The win was Miners’ biggest score and margin of victory in the National Conference League whilst Sean Pendlebury’s six tries broke a club record stretching back to the early days and held jointly by David Blood and Alan Reddecliff with five.
Whilst stiffer tests will await for the Leigh side they can reflect with satisfaction on the ruthlessness they showed, and in how they maintained their intensity throughout despite the game being settled inside nine minutes. By that stage the home team were 14-0 ahead and they never fell behind the point-per-minute ratio thereafter. Inevitably it was that man Pendlebury who set the ball rolling, finishing off a break by Ross Bradley for the try improved by Scott O’Brien. Adam Thomason and the returning Lee Gittins, playing his first game in almost a year, sent Chris Barlow in at the corner and then some fine wrap-around play involving Martin Lewis and Gittins put Shaun Marsh charging in at the corner. Bradley then got in on the act as he finished off some good handling.
The beleaguered visitors were dealt a further blow as loose-forward Mick Samples was sin-binned, somewhat harshly, for a professional foul and the home side took immediate advantage as Lee Gittins surged in for a try from the tapped penalty. The next try had a hint of fortune as a misplaced pass was kicked on by O’Brien and into the hands of Pendlebury for his second. Lewis then tore through from half-way and sent O’Brien in for a try and the scrum-half returned the favour for his half-back partner either side of a second try for Marsh. The final word of the half belonged to Pendlebury as he completed his hat-trick off O’Brien and was then on hand with the final try of the half after Darryl Flannery broke down the right and kicked in-field for the fullback to gauge the bounce and dive over the whitewash.
What they lacked in Conference level experience Siddal certainly weren’t wanting in character and with the feisty Samples, hard-working front row George Thorpe and stand-off Dominic Booth, they enjoyed a more resilient third quarter as big centre Gareth Schofield had arguably their best chance when he made a mini-break down the left only to be hauled into touch by the covering Bradley. Miners had further tries for Lee Gittins, Flannery and Bradley, but this period was the hardest they were tested in the game. However once the floodgates flapped open again in the latter stages the points continued to flow. Pendlebury grabbed his rec0rd-equalling fifth with perhaps the try of the game, breaking from deep inside his own half, scorching down the wing and in for the try under the posts. Lewis then grabbed his second as he powered through the tackles and Flannery also had his brace before Pendlebury wrote his name into the record books with his sixth to round off proceedings.
Miners – Sean Pendlebury, Chris Barlow, Lee Gittins, Ross Bradley, Darryl Flannery, Martin Lewis, Scott O’Brien, Craig Connor, Tom Farrimond, Darryl Kay, Adam Thomason, Shaun Marsh, Danny Jones Subs – David Rowland, Gary Gittins, Darryl Appleby, Kevin Howells
Tries – Pendlebury (2, 24, 35, 38, 62, 75), Barlow (5), L Gittins (5, 47), Marsh (9, 29), Bradley (15, 59), O’Brien (27), Lewis (32, 66), Flannery (56, 75)
Goals – O’Brien 10
MoM – Sean Pendlebury
Siddal – Matt Price, David Heslop, Michael Gilligan, Gareth Schofield, Gavin Marshall, Dominic Booth, Mark Halford, Tom Garratt, Joe Wrigley, Danny Richardson, Zac Brennan, Danny Williams, Mick Samples Subs – Sean McCormack, Simon Longbottom, Danny Whiteley, George Thorpe
Referee – Craig Kay
