Siddal seconds made Rovers sweat

Waddle in the thick of it

Sharlston Rovers .. 30 (0)
Siddal A .. 4 (0)

Pennine Premier League

A second half turn around gave Rovers the much needed league points against third place Siddal A after the Halifax visitors held Rovers to a no score draw going into the interval.

Heavy overnight rain made handling difficult and in the opening half both sides struggled to complete their sets. Rovers had several chances to go over but Siddal A held firm in defence as Sharlston tried to force their way down the middle of the park.

In the second half Rovers made the ball do more of the work and within minutes of the restart a looping cut out pass from Chris Chester put Tommy Malyan in on the fringe.

Almost instantly Rovers added further points to the board after Jonathan Waddle broke from the half way and with Siddal back tracking Lee Maskill jinked his way over, Tommy Malyan converting.

With the first half arm wrestle firmly behind them Siddal started to drop off in defence and Waddle again bust the line and from the play of the ball Saville spread the ball wide to Maskill to dummy over to complete his brace, again Malyan gaoling.

Davies was the next to cross the whitewash again with large involvement from Waddle the loose forward combining well with Davies and Ferris before the prolific centre finished near the posts.

With confidence and on a roll Rovers added the most bizarre try of season to the highlights reel with a superbly taken try for winger Carl Spencer as the ball spread from one touch to the other passing through 10 players hands coming off the boot twice.

10 minutes before the close of the game Geoff Hick wrapped up Rovers scoring with a well finished try under the posts deceiving the defence with some nifty footwork. Malyan added the easy goal.

Siddal who made the hosts sweat in the first half showed character to push for a score and was rewarded with a late consolation try for center Matthew Batley.

Man of the Match for Rovers sponsored by Bob Crowther was without doubt loose forward Jonathan Waddle who was involved in almost everything Rovers pushed close by Steve Hall and Carl Saville.

The joy of victory was marred by the loss of Craige Miles for the rest of the season with a recurring knee injury after working hard over the last 8 weeks to get fit for the important run in to the close of the season.

Next Saturday Rovers make the relatively short journey to Kippax Welfare in league action, kick off 2.30pm.