Strong second half performance not enough. Eccles 17-25 Liverpool St Helens Saturday 19 March 2022 Liverpool St Helens arrived at Gorton Street in decent form, being unbeaten in 9 of their last 11 ADM Premier fixtures since defeating Eccles 18-5 last November at Moss Lane. For probably the first time this season, Eccles were able to name a team with only a handful of changes from the previous outing and hoped this rare consistency in line up would provide an 80-minute performance. The game got underway in beautiful spring sunshine which had encouraged a good turn out of supporters. The visitors enjoyed the early attacking pressure for the opening 5 minutes but Eccles stood strong inside their own 22 and play eventually moved back to the midfield where it remained for the next 10 minutes, without either side mounting a serious threat to score. LSH looked to have the larger pack but Eccles appeared to cope with this. With about 20 minus played the deadlock was broken with speed not power, the LSH Winger making a good break down the right flank, and drawing the Eccles defence out wide, putting a nice pass back inside to his supporting Fullback (Johnson) to run in and claim the first Try. 0-5. Eccles struggled to respond to this set back as LSH built attacking pressure from the restart. Unable to escape their own half Eccles were inviting trouble. On 37’ LSH broke through on the left and with the benefit of a missed tackle the winger (Dickinson) ran the ball in under the sticks for a Try and straightforward conversion to give the visitors a comfortable lead as the game headed into halftime. HT 0-12. Following the break, Eccles make a concerted effort to make progress and were more aggressive and confident in their play. On 55’ Wright , Fortune and Candland combined to break through in the centre, Flanker Adam Christey hit the fringe on the right and offloaded out of the back door to supporting winger Will Parkinson who used terrific footwork to avoid the touch line and score in the corner. 5-12 TRY ECCLES. Eccles were now playing with more belief and determination. On 65’ a quick reaction to a penalty in the midfield, play moved out to the 1XV MATCH REPORT
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