Burntwood survive cup scare as they push past Trentham

BURNTWOOD survived a late scare to record a narrow win at Trentham.

After an hour of entertaining competition, Josh Canning’s side had a 12-point lead before the hosts narrowed the margin and narrowly missed a late penalty attempt to prevent them from winning the cup.

Trentham, the current Owen Cup holders, may be a league below Burntwood but they got off to a quick start to the game and took advantage of a handling error in their own 22 balls to break free under the posts for an excellent try. After just three minutes the lead was increased to a lead of seven points.

It didn’t take long for the guests to respond and they equalized two minutes later. Possession at the opponents’ 22 line was shifted to the right and then back to midfield, where Hal Gozukucuk was able to avoid a scrum and run under the posts. Brett Taylor converted.

In the 11th minute it was Burntwood’s turn to score from a move that started in their own half – although, unlike Trentham’s early goal, this owed more to the boot than the hand. Kian Carter collected the ball as it bounced off the post following a Trentham penalty goal attempt. He made up ground before taking the lead halfway down the stretch, where Billy Fisher hacked back and touched down near the posts for Taylor to add the shot.

Three minutes later it was 19:7. Carter’s 50-22 kick allowed Alfie Dewsbury to gain possession, allowing skipper Canning to shoot wide down the right.

The hosts benefited from a series of penalties to tip the game towards Burntwood. Dewsbury took his side in breach of a team warning and while he was in the sin, Trentham capitalized on a converted try, scored from a converted penalty.

It took a solid tackle from Carter to stop the home hooker before the hosts conceded a penalty against them, marking a shift in momentum. Burntwood won a lineout on the home 22 and moved to the infield. As the ball was moved back to the left, Luke Rookyard stupidly pushed his way over the ball and tried in the corner, with no attempt converted.

With a 24-14 lead and a chance of their favor heading into the second period, Burntwood looked to be in a comfortable position – but the hosts quickly got back into the lead and converted a penalty to reduce the deficit.

Nevertheless, the visitors continued to take the lead in the 45th minute after Carter sent a well-judged penalty into the left corner. Line-out possession was won and Jack Johnson played the ball to Rookyard for his second try. Taylor’s conversion attempt worked well against the wind but failed.

Burntwood had chances to put the result out of sight but a point was disallowed for scrambling and then Ben Finney was tackled in the left corner to deny him a try.

After playing the third quarter in the home half, fortunes changed when a Trentham flanker from the middle stormed past a line out to the visitors’ 22 before feeding his winger under the post for an excellent converted try.

Inspired by this result, the home team stepped up a gear and were almost back in it, but were stopped on the line. However, in the 65th minute they made it 27:29 with a well-taken penalty goal from 35 meters into the wind.

When Reece Edwards received a yellow card two minutes later, the surprise was palpable, especially when another momentum from his own half ended only because of a bad pass in the last five meters.

In the final ten minutes Trentham won the turnover ball but in their attempt to get to the line they were penalized for holding on to the tackle.

In the 77th minute, the home kicker attempted a penalty kick from near the halfway line. His shot hit the target but failed under the crossbar.

With Edwards back for the remaining time, Burntwood were able to continue playing in Trentham’s half and the final whistle blew shortly after a home player received a yellow card.

Burntwood host Longton in the semi-final, which runs until November 23.

It’s back to the league next weekend, with 1st at Wolverhampton, 2nd at home against Wednesbury and 3rd against 2nd at Handsworth. All kick-offs take place at 3 p.m.

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