Stockport went away to Broughton Park for what has always been a hard fought game and so it turned out on this occasion, with Stockport gaining a narrow 12-15 victory. With both sides having periods of dominance and both defending resolutely it was a moment of individual action that clinched the game as Stockport wing Dudley Southern kicked ahead in the Park 22 and won the race for the touch down to take Stockport ahead with only 15 minutes to go. Stockport had the majority of possession and territorial advantage but the Park defence restricted them to only two tries. The visitors had to defend well themselves during the last minutes of the game as Park looked to get a winning score.

Broughton Park had an early opportunity to go ahead but were unable to convert the penalty awarded. Stockport then dominated the next 20 minutes and after several good moves, there was a great run by wing Josh Schofield in a planned move from a line out and a break by skipper Rory Austin, Callum Owen was high tackled as he looked about to score and the Park No 7 was sent to the bin. Owen scored a try out on the left on 21 minutes after good passes by Tom Eaton and Matt Blackman, Southern kicked the difficult conversion for a 0-7 lead. Stockport misjudged the kick off and a line out was stolen by Park, the home side then put on some real pressure and a try was scored to even things up only 5 minutes after Stockport’s score. More good play by Stockport was thwarted by the home defence but just before the break Southern kicked a penalty from in front of the posts to take the visitors into a 7-10 half time lead.

Stockport were unable to maintain sustained possession as the home defence was good. The Park players put on some real pressure in the Stockport 22 before the ball was moved to the right and Broughton Park squeezed over in the corner, there was no conversion but the home side were ahead at 12-10. With Simon Green repeatedly stealing the Broughton Park line out Stockport were mostly on the front foot but the Park defence was very good and it looked as if a score was going to be hard to come by. With just less than 20 minutes to go Southern got the ball out left on the 22 and his well controlled kick took the ball into the in goal area and he won the race for the touchdown but was unable to make the conversion so Stockport had a narrow 3 point lead at 12-15. It was the home side that finished strongly as they looked for a winning score but now it was the Stockport defence that held firm until a penalty was awarded in front of the posts. Park opted for a quick tap, spurning the chance of a draw, and they were held up in a maul giving a scrum to Stockport but time was up and the visitors had their hard won victory.

Next week there is a home fixture against Douglas Isle of Man kick off is at 2.15.