Holmes Chapel 15 v 12 Linley

Holmes Chapel 1st XV bounced back from defeat at Buxton the previous weekend to beat mid-table Linley & Kidsgrove 15-12 last Saturday. Captain Mike Cottam was struggling for players earlier in the week but the club rallied round and managed to field a strong 17-man squad while also sending a 2nd XV to travel to Acton Nomads. Tries from Stuart G and Tom Chambers saw them home, with a penalty and a conversion by Paul Gianassi completing the scoring. Linley led for much of the game after a converted first half try put them 7-0 ahead. Gilligan’s unconverted touchdown narrowed the deficit to 7-5 which remained the score until around 20 minutes to go. Chapel had dominated the second half and eventually got a deserved try when Chambers drove over the line after good work by the pack. Gianassi added the difficult conversion and knocked over a penalty shortly afterwards. The visitors refused to give up though and scored their second try through their impressive outside half, but the conversion was missed and Chapel saw out the rest of the game for the valuable win. This lifts Chapel back to second place but with 3 games remaining the race for promotion is still wide open and Chapel have a very tough run-in. Nevertheless this win showed great character and Cottam will be delighted with his players.

The 2nd XV also ran out winners despite going away with only 10 players – many thanks to Acton Nomads for generously lending players and for an exciting and enjoyable game. Joe Maddock and Matt Ambrose were among the Chapel try-scorers.