Wirral 38 Derby 14
Derby’s first game of the new year saw them make the long journey to Thornton Common Road, to take on Wirral.
Mike Johns and Tom Pickering both made their 1stappearance of the season from the bench, as Derby took the number of players used this season to 42 !
Traffic problems on the M6 delayed Derby’s arrival until 20 minutes before the scheduled kick off. Fortunately,with the agreement of Wirral and the referee, the kick off was delayed by 15 minutes, until 2.30. This enabled Derby to have some sort of warm up.
Sam Pittman captained the side for the first time and led the team out onto a pitch that was in excellent condition.
Wirral kicked off, but it was Derby who were quickest out of the blocks.
Initial pressure saw Derby held up over the Wirral try line, but still they kept attacking.
Good runs from Lewis Hancock and Harry Slaughter kept Derby on the front foot and they were again held up over the try line.
22 minutes had elapsed when Derby finally had some reward. Josh Bingham kicked a penalty to put them 3 – 0 ahead.
The 7 minutes before half time turned the game on its head.
Wirral had some attacking ball and unlike Derby,were able to make it count.
Two tries were scored and Wirral lead 10 – 3 at the break. Derby had also lost Sam Pittman to the sin bin as a result of a number of penalties being conceded.
The 2nd half could not have started any worse for Derby. Wirral scored a converted try within 3 minutes of the restart.
Derby had some good spells of pressure and with 19 minutes left, were only 8 points behind, thanks to 2 further Josh Bingham penalties. Derby had also been held up over the Wirral try line in this spell for a remarkable 3rd time in the match.
It was Wirral who scored next, with a converted try after 64 minutes. They followed up with another one, 6 minutes later to extinguish any hopes of Derby leaving with any league points.
Good work from Harry Slaughter enabled Tom Pickering to score a try for Derby near the end.
It was Wirral who had the last word though, with another converted try to seal the victory.
As has been the case all season, Derby showed tremendous determination and team spirit.
Derby are at home next week, to Stockport.
Come on Derby !
R. Bambra
