North Manchester made the lengthy trip to Fleetwood last Saturday and delays in traffic meant that the team coach only arrived at the ground 10 minutes before the scheduled kick-off. An understanding official agreed to delay the kick-off by 15 minutes and North hastily changed and tried to get some life into their weary legs after such a frustrating journey to the ground. North’s day had already got off to a bad start when first team regulars Dave Garvey, Kev Green and Dave Vickers pulled out through injury. This, combined with the loss of university bound Matthew Wallace, Aaron Duoba and James Hyland, and Kyle Howard meant North were short on experienced players, especially backs.

Any thoughts that North were in for an enjoyable day by the seaside were quickly dispelled as the home side capitalised on North’s spectacularly slow start to create several chances in the opening minutes. Fleetwood runners were breaking through tackles with ease and North were lucky to only concede one try during this period to trail 7-0. Fleetwood’s domination of the game did not create more points largely due to the defensive work of winger Steve Donoghue who put in several try-saving tackles during this period.

The home side launched attack after attack and nearly increased their lead after 15 minutes when the fly-half kicked through into the try-area. North were again slow to react and Fleetwood had 4 players lining up to score the try, luckily for North Andy Donley somehow skipped in between the attackers and placed the ball down for a 22 metre-line clearance. The try was saved but the consequences may be more serious as the influential player-coach stayed down and subsequently had to leave the field with what looked like a serious groin injury. With the loss of Donley and the absence of alternative scrum halfs Wallace and Vickers, North had to turn to rookie scrum-half Adam Aubrey. The youngster came on to the field with North playing poorly and losing 7-0 but inspired the visitors with his impressive array of passing and understanding of the game.

North began to settle down and had a sustained spell of possession in Fleetwood’s half. Once again North’s scrum was dominant with Tony Donley, Luke Corrigan and Dave McCarrick pushing their opponents around the park and won several scrums against the head. Aubrey was providing fly-half John Eady with excellent service and this allowed Eady to control proceedings for the remainder of the half. North’s new look back-line began to tick with Centre Paul Marsh Hayward, North’s rugby league convert, providing a new dimension to the visitors attack with his running lines and offloading in the tackle. Gaps began to appear in the home defence and try-machine Steve Donoghue grabbed a brace of tries before half time with runs from the halfway line that ended beneath the posts. North led 14-7 at the halfway stage and had gone from the ridiculous to the sublime in a curious first half performance.

North continued to battle throughout a close second half and were never really comfortable until the final few minutes. North’s forwards put in an immense effort against a good team. Jason Malone, Ian Thompson and captain Gary Pugh were magnificent in both defence and attack and were too strong and experienced for the young Fleetwood pack. Steve Donoghue ripped up the coach’s manual but showcased all of his attributes when he grabbed his and North’s third try as he ran right across the field searching for a gap in the home defensive line, leaving tacklers clutching at air. Donoghue’s run ended in the opposite corner to where it had begun to give North a 19-7 lead.

North were still under pressure when they were awarded a penalty 40 metres from the posts. John Eady duly slotted it home to give North a little bit more breathing space at 22-7 meaning the home side would have to score 3 times to take the lead with time running out. Fleetwood once again had a period of pressure and Lee Robert’s, Steve Atkinson and Adam Aubrey put in several strong tackles to maintain North’s advantage. Fleetwood’s best chance of closing the scores was thwarted by Steve Donoghue who prevented his opposite winger from scoring in the corner with a perfectly timed tackle to force the Fleetwood man out of touch.

In the final minutes second half substitutes Colin Meredith and Gordon Morrison combined to release No. 8 Chris Taylor on the halfway line. Last seasons Player of the Year handed off the final defender before speeding away from the chasing home players to score his first try of the season in the corner. North had come through a tricky game after a shocking start to record a 27-7 victory.

North had several outstanding performers. Every member of the travelling pack had strong games with Jason Malone and Luke Corrigan putting in particularly impressive performances. Paul Marsh-Hayward and Steve Atkinson played for the 1st XV for the first time this season but were both excellent and will be pushing to become regulars in the near future with performances like this. Adam Aubrey was superb as stand-in scrum half after Donley’s injury and may make the position his own. The Hayneswood Engineering man of the match award was given to Steve Donoghue, whose defensive work was as important as his hat-trick in a wonderful display. Donoghue has now scored 5 of North’s 7 tries this season and the team need to improve their displays, in what is undoubtedly a higher standard of rugby following promotion, and not become too reliant on the youngsters ability.