Stockport 4's took a break from league action and hosted Sale Norsemen at Headlands Road in the Barry Allen Memorial Shield (otherwise known as The Flash Cup). With regular captain Conor Osbiston again preferring to play for the 3's, the team were led by centre Keith Warhurst and gave a debut to Jack Grealish look-a-like Ash Dudley on the wing. In typical 4's fashion, the team had already lost Mark Dunnington and Rich Grainger prior to kick off however had managed to gain Connor Coveney-Winter but then received the news off club chairman Ged Gurney that he was going to be late. This promoted Connor into the starting XV with Ged agreeing to take his place on the bench. This was thrown into more disarray when with only 20 minutes to kick off, we were still missing James Beard who had forgotten about the early kick and was hustling himself to the ground. At this point we had no Dunnington, no Grainger, had acquired a Coveney-Winter, no Gurney, no Piatt, no Beard and Max Crabtree was promoted into the starting XV. All of this and the game still hadn't started!!!!! Gurney then arrived (result) but then announced that he couldn't play until his wife arrived as their dogs were in his car. I'm almost certain when packing your kit for the match, you may well realise you have packed the dogs as well but hey ho. Scrum half Toby Piatt was also running late however he will have wished he had never turned up at all as he lasted about 5 minutes and was last seen heading off to A&E with a lower leg injury.

The game eventually got under way and the home side soon found themselves 12-0 down courtesy of a knock on directly from the kick off and then a penalty as clearly the people stood right next to her couldn't hear the ref repeatedly shouting to leave the ball alone. The reason it was only 12 and not 14 to Sale was courtesy of full back Joe Laxton and his extra long levers as he managed to charge down a Sale conversion. With a line out that would never have won a ball had there been no opposition, the team decided to run everything and following a barnstorming run by No.8 Roan Hill, the ball was whipped out to Laxton who managed to dance his way over the line for a try that he converted himself and it was now 12-7. At this point, Piatt had departed the scene with his injury meaning Keith Warhurst had to move to 9 whilst Dave Holehouse moved from second row to centre. Not that it needs to be highlighted (much) but the first job for Keith was to secure a textbook jackal turnover which was all for nothing as he managed to then drop a Sale kick off which eventually lead to another try and it was 17-7. Stockport were back onto the attack and this led to a penalty for the home side which Laxton knocked over to drag the score back to 10-17 however as was becoming the theme for the game, every time we closed the gap we gifted Sale field position and 10-17 became 10-22 as Sale were over for their 4th try of the game courtesy of Stockport giving away yet another penalty, seemingly for not listening. The defensive effort was already taking its toll with prop Will Wadsworth off with a head knock and hooker Lee McLean spotted walking up the touchline with 2 tampons up his nostrils. Fortunately, club DoR Tom Eaton had now turned up and was onto the pitch before half time, replacing Holehouse at 12 and after years of trying we now had a 9-10-12 axis of Warhurst, Warhurst and Eaton. Some would say a rose between 2 thorns, I'm thinking more of a dick between 2 bollocks!!. Fortunately no further points were conceded and with that the half time whistle brought a break in proceedings and it was 10-22 to Sale.

With Gurney having now offloaded his dogs, he was able to take his place on the field to replace Coveney-Winter with prop Gareth Dickinson also into the action and we were ready for the second half. Now I have no idea in what order anything happened but I do know we scored 4 second half tries, one of which was converted by Laxton meaning we only lost the second half 28-22. Had we not given them a 20 point head start who knows how the game may have ended. Despite playing 12, Eaton was keen to get involved in everything and during the same move I think played 12, 10 & 9 as well as carrying the ball in close contact and (and these are his words not mine) hitting EVERY ruck. It was Dudley who was next on the scoresheet with a try on debut on the left wing, and not to be outdone this was counter-scored by his opposite winger Andy Albinson who also got over for a try. We were now on uncontested scrums despite the fact that Sale seemed to have forgotten we have played them before (approx 6 weeks ago) so we know which of their players played in the front row last time!! However, we still kept letting them back into the game and with Keith failing to scoop up a daisy cutting kick off, Sale were soon back under the Stockport posts courtesy of some shoddy tackling efforts. The key thing here was not to give up, and the 4's showed plenty of heart and spirit to not only compete but drag themselves back into the game again. This time it was that man Eaton who went to hit yet another ruck, but instead picked up the ball and shot off to the line. With defenders hanging off him, he managed to make his way to the line for Stockport's 4th try showing that age is but a number. We then had a bit of skirmish with McLean finding himself in a precarious position, pinned to the floor ("its alright lads, I had him but I didn't want a ban") however with handbags away it was a scrum to Stockport. There was still time for Dudley to cap off an amazing first game of rugby as he crashed over in the corner for a brace on debut and it was now 30-48 to the visitors which brought the end of the game.

Despite the score line, an epic performance from a team that had no lineout and had bodies swapping positions all over the place. Doesn't matter who you are and what you can or can't do, everyone can give effort and it was given in abundance today.

Onto the awards and some honourable mentions for MOTM. Laxton in with a shout not just for his try, 2 conversions and penalty but for his ability to block conversions. No.8 Roan Hill again showing his ball carrying ability and how you don't stop until someone stops you however the MOTM award HAS to go to wing Ash Dudley, with 2 tries on debut and put himself about with no regards for his own welfare. He's also only worked with Doddy for 18 months but is already aware that he milks his injuries and just wants to be begged to play, underlying his importance!!

Onto the DOTD award and there were a few nominations here. Keith for 2 knock ons (albeit I thought the 2nd one was a harsh call by Rhys who reminded me, frequently). Beardo for forgetting it was an early kick off and Toby for turning up late however if you are already late AND you can't start cos you have brought your dogs with you, it had to be club chairman Ged Gurney (who should really know better)