Southport Firsts chalked up a welcome win at Hillside last Saturday with an extremely competent display especially from the forwards led by try scorer and man of the match Jamie Church, aided and abetted by stalwarts Jonah Jones and Craig Pacey, new comer Tony Hudson, and the rest . The final score arguably did not do the team justice in the end but new Director of Rugby Mike Dale, in the thick of it himself, seems to have the midas touch as the team put in a disciplined performance which hardly gave opponents Oswestry a chance.

The Second team came away from Fylde 5ths with a creditable 17-3 victory to maintain pressure at the top of its league, whilst over the wall at Waterloo Road the Third team were up against a savvy Widnes 3rds succumbing 0-48.

The Junior Colts came away empty handed from Marple and now look destined to finish third, a big disappointment after the encouraging start to the campaign whilst the Senior Colts league season ended ignominiously having to cry-off at Rossendale through shortage of players. It is to be hoped the lads can get their act together for the Lancashire Cup Quarter Final at Widnes in a couple of weeks. There was no game for the Ladies.

This weekend The Firsts play a rearranged fixture at home to bottom of the table Buxton. The game is sponsored by John Cunningham and his colleagues at JCA Solicitors, and Gareth Lang and his merry men will be keen to retain their good form. Kick off 2.15pm. The Seconds are away at Preston Grasshoppers 4ths, the Ladies likewise at Northwich on Sunday with no games this weekend for the either of the Colts teams, or the Thirds.

MATCH REPORTS (only one submitted this week but I've pinched the First team one off the Oswestry web site FYI)

Southport 19 Oswestry 0

Southport out Mussel Eagles at the Seaside by Andy Carlton

With skipper Graham Fox returning to the side after missing the last two games Oswestry travelled up to Southport having kept faith with the young side that narrowly lost to Vagabonds last week. The youngsters faced a big experienced Southport team that had started to win a few games especial at home.

The Eagles were under pressure from the start with the big Southport forwards keeping the ball tight by driving close to the breakdown, The Eagles defended well, and when they had possession they tried to run the ball through the backs, but unfortunate handling errors gave the ball back to Southport.

Oswestry back line defended very well forcing Southport to use a kicking game that resulted in a mix up that allowed the Southport winger to kick the ball on to score an unconverted try, The Eagles stuck to the game plan of trying to move the much heavier Southport forwards around the park, but were out muscled at the breakdowns, but there was no further score in this half.

Oswestry turned round at halftime with a changed game plan of trying to play behind the Southport backline, with Luca Owen-Youens putting in some lovely kicks into the spaces, and with the Eagle back line putting pressure on Southport it looked as if they could get back into the game. Unfortunately the Eagles lost a player after the referee issued a yellow card for not rolling away after the tackle. Southport forwards capitalized using the driving maul and the pickup and drive resulting in a converted try. The game started to get a bit messy with both sides giving away penalties, but Oswestry could not get enough ball to stretch the Southport defence, and the experienced Southport forwards gained another period of pickup and drive resulted in another converted try and thus killing the game off for Oswestry, Head coach Don Howell was full of praises for the young Oswestry side and is confident that when the pitches dry up we will see the full poetical and ability of these talented youngsters and a couple of old farts that average the age up.

(thanks Andy for a very fair report - the Southport side was probably as young too. Good to see them all coming through)

Well matched battle tests the mettle of a weakened U11 squad

Southport u11s 38 v Sedgley Park u11s 54 by Matthew Palmer

A half-term depleted U11 squad faced Sedgley Park Tigers ready for a test before the final round of the Barclays Mini Lancashire cup next week. The game was played in 4 quarters to give each side the chance to bring the whole squad onto the pitch over 40 minutes and allow for a few trials with position for Southport.

The first quarter saw Southport on the back foot and was entrenched within the Southport half by a Sedgley pack who seemed to have the immediate upper hand, running in two tries and converting one within the first 5 minutes. Southport finally found their way and showed great skills and running rugby to level the score at the end of the first quarter, 12-12. Notable was Jake Haworth who probably surprised himself at how much he enjoyed playing up front in the second row.

A few changes in the second quarter and the very different styles of the two sides was clear to see, Southport working hard to keep the ball off the ground and moving forwards with the strong, rucking, phase play of the Tigers. Solid and persistent work by the front five however kept bringing the ball Southport's way and the two tries and a conversion against Sedgley's single converted try left Southport 5 points clear at half time, 24-19. Dom Weston showed his versatility, stepping into second row from his usual fly-half position to add extra power to the pack.

Sedgley were keen to level the score and were set and ready early for the start of the second half. Fresh legs and fresh faces for Southport as Alex McCoy made his debut and managed to hold his own against some tough Sedgley forwards and slippery backs. Sedgley were fired up and were playing to their strengths, going to ground often and slowing down the Southport ball. The pressure showed as Southport were forced to kick from hand on occasion and the coaches were given food-for-thought in how to deal with the heavy grind of rucking rugby that goes against our style. A couple of held up tries from Sedgley showed their determination and the quarter ended 31-33. Jordan Glover held his own standing in at hooker and was impressive in the breakdown and James O'Keeffe showed his great running ability from full-back.

The final quarter and both teams were looking tired. With a two points deficit Southport were asking a lot of our final 12 that included many of our less experienced players including new recruit Joe (who had only undergone preliminary training that very morning) and Alex McCoy in his debut game. The squad managed to hold their ground for much of the quarter but suffered at the hands of Sedgley's handy tight-head prop who managed to run in a hat-trick which was only answered by a single try from Southport. Well done to Dan Thompson at fly-half who kept Southport heads up to the end and played well throughout.

Final score saw Sedgley victorious at 38-54 which was a little harsh on a Southport side that gave their all throughout. This was reflected in the good sportsmanship of both teams and coaching staff who all agreed that it was a well matched and well fought battle.

MOTM is a tough call on this one, all the forwards deserve a solid pat on the back for holding off the powerful Sedgley pack and turning over scrums and rucks throughout. The solid partnership of Zach Butcher and Sol Palmer was evident, Richard Casselton was his usual workhorse self and it was good to see Alfie Mutch back in the front row working to great effect. In the backs Dan Thompson had a great game and showed how a strong voice in the half backs can get the best from a squad and Dan Gavan and Lewis Peacock showed good skills and determination within the back line and half-back positions. MOTM goes however to Jake Haworth who stepped up to the challenge of playing in the forwards and gave 100% the entire game.