A trip up north was on the cards for Macclesfield on Saturday to face Blaydon, as the blues started the new campaign. After a disappointing previous season, the blues wanted to start of with a bang but had been met with stern resistance from the home side who came out victorious 52-32
The first try of the day had been scored by Blaydon’s Alex Clark just six minutes into the game. The score had been created from a combination of quick play the ball at the scrum and slick passing inside Macclesfield’s 22 metres. The conversion was scored by Foreman.
The blues opened their own scoring, courtesy of a penalty kick from Will Davies, considering the windy conditions, struck well from the boot throughout the game. Shortly after though, Marshall pushed Blaydon further ahead with a try, but the conversion did not hit the mark which closed out the opening quarter with the blues behind by nine.
Macclesfield managed to turn pressure into points on the half hour mark, thanks to James Oliver who touched the ball down after a loose carry from Blaydon only metres out from their own line. Davies added the extras with ease. Unfortunately for the blues, Marshall bagged his second try for the home side on the stroke of half time which was converted.
Even though the lead was back to nine, the game had been very even across all areas, but small errors accounted for the home side leading 19-10 at the break.
The second half started with a scoreless opening ten minutes until Davies converted a long-distance penalty, which cut the lead to six. The response that the home faithful at Crows Nest wanted came in the form of two tries in four minutes, scored by Keith Laughlin and Ryan Foreman who himself converted both kicks.
With the home side up by twenty a reaction was needed, and it came from Pete Milne, after a break from the halfway, Milne received the pass to go over but the conversion from out wide was off target.
Blaydon hit straight back, offloading after contact, Foreman managed to go under the posts and converted his own try. The back and forward scoring continued but this time for the blues as Tom King crashed over with the extras being added. The scoring did not finish there as Blaydon sealed the game with two more tries from Marshall who bagged his third, then Sweed Harrison.
Macclesfield’s own Zimbabwean bulldozer, Witness Mandizha managed to salvage a try bonus point by running over a helpless defender and scoring, which could prove pivotal come the end of the season.
The game provided 84 points in total, the most out of any games from this league. Big performances notably came from the forwards at scrum time, who never seemed to take a backwards step and Will Davies who managed conditions well with the boot.
The team spirit lasted the full 80 and nothing suggests the blues will be a pushover this season. The next fixture will be at home against a Morpeth side who also lost on the first day. The support for the boys had been incredible and we hope to see many faces this coming Saturday.
