Led by their leader Mel 'Optimus Prime' McCaughey, the Autobots of Stockport 3's ventured over to nearby Cybertron in deepest darkest Cheshire to take on the Decepticons, hiding in plain sight all these years and masquerading as Wilmslow 2's. This was the 3rd meeting of the season between the 2 sides and was a contest of good v evil, to see who could progress into the next round of the cup as well as saving Earth from extinction. The visitors were buoyed by the return of our very heroic Bumblebee, Will Mannion in the centres whilst tough Bot prop Ironhide aka Tom Rushton had recovered from a poorly nose. Only 2 subs on the bench after prop MARK Shiel decided against committing child neglect despite getting himself into the right head space with a trip down memory lane and Transformers The Movie 1986!!!!

Its fair to say that the weather was going to have a hand in how the game panned out, especially as we were sent to warm up in a sloping bog but the visitors were aware from previous battles that Wilmslow liked to start strong so it was imperative that defence was top of the agenda. With ex-Stockport 1st XV player Alex Taylor in their ranks, it was clear that the Decepticons were here to battle and the game got underway with the home side kicking off. The first few minutes saw both sides testing each other out and unfortunately saw Stockport lose a fallen soldier as wing Affeme Johnson gave way to an early leg injury which brought Lucas Brundrett onto the pitch. Amazingly, with Tom Eaton not needed a back rub this week it meant his gopher Matt Brundrett was able to attend and actually watch his son play, for which he would be rewarded later. It was soon clear that underfootings were not going to help at all with the earlier rain affecting the pitch and it was the home side who struck first, diving over from a ruck after Stockport decided not to install any guards and it was 5-0. Stockport roared back into the game however whenever they managed to string some phases together, it always seemed to go wrong at the last moment either from an error or a turnover. The younger and more physical home side were enjoying the better of the exchanges however this did not stop Rushton from repeatedly carrying into traffic, along with fellow prop Dave 'Porky' Burr who seemingly must have thought we were doing ok as he didn't feel compelled to keep telling everyone what to do and how to do it. With the line out functioning well, and with parity in the scrums it was in open play where the battles were to be had but again Stockport could not quite find the killer edge. A golden opportunity fell to centre Keith Warhurst who was put through a gap by son and fly half Rhys however the old legs aren't quite as quick as they used to be, and an attempted offload led to a knock on and scrum to the home team to clear their lines.

Despite all this huffing and puffing, Stockport could not blow the door down and it was the home side who were able to extend their lead with another short range try, which was converted and at the half time interval it was 12-0 to the Decepticons. Some encouraging words from scrum half Andy Rimmer basically reiterated that we just needed to keep doing what we were doing and we would be rewarded, and with that Rhys kicked off the second half and away we went. It was perhaps fitting that the next score was Stockport's and came from an intervention by Rimmer as his kick ahead was not dealt with well by Wilmslow and suddenly the ball found its way to Rhys in acres of space who ate up the ground with his lanky legs before putting Brundrett over to score, with his dad actually watching and with Rhys tagging on the extras it was 12-7. By now the weather was massively affecting the game and turning the pitch into a quagmire, but both teams kept plugging away trying to gain the upper hand. An Autobot break by Barrel (aka Burr) momentarily looked like it was going to be an epic length of the field charge but like so many occasions in the game, it all came to nothing. The physicality and fitness of the home side was now to the fore, and they were soon over for their 3rd unconverted try to push it out to 17-7 but Optimus was not to be deterred and urging his Bots on, he demanded one last effort to get back into the game with the cry "Autobots, let's roll out". The referee then decidedly to point out repeatedly, "No.12, offside and a knock on" and just in case no one had heard it, he repeated it all again numerous times (yes ref, I know what I did)!!!! With Dave Holehouse on to replace Lee McLean, he lined up for a carry with the opposition shouting "I've got the bald one." Comically Dave is not bald, however he was stood next to me and I am, but courtesy of my recent mudpack I was finessing a lovely full head of 'hair' whilst Dave's recent close grey trim left him looking the balder of the 2 of us. All of this was to no avail and Wilmslow went over for their 4th try, which was converted to push them into a 24-7 lead and the game was now all but over, a triumph of evil over good.

Cybertron remained under the control of the Cheshire set with the Autobots left licking their battle wounds however there is no shame losing a battle to a better side.

MOTM and generally it was a team collective however for me, one person stood out with his relentless pursuit of everything all afternoon so the award goes to flanker Seb Valentine.

Onto the more prestigious DOTD award and surprisingly there weren't many options for this. Tom Rushton, who disappeared during the warm up for a poo (despite there being no loo roll), Affeme Johnson for lasting less time than the Welsh & Irish defence or Chris Dodd who as usual waited as long as possible for a shower then realised all the hot water had been used however with all the warblings about Transformers, the promise of an appearance and the last minute change of heart it has to go to everyone's favourite Paddington Bear, MARK Shiel.