2:39pm Thursday 11th March 2010
Tyldesley 20 Vale of Lune 19
TYLDESLEY under 16s have exceeded all of this season’s expectations by reaching the Lancashire Cup semi final for the first time.
They booked their ticket with a tense quarter-final victory over classy Lancaster outfit Vale of Lune by the narrowest of margins.
They now face giants Manchester, who have yet to concede a try in this season’s cup.
Tyldesley where slightly the underdogs but started well against Vale.
Some great forward play and neat handling from Long enabled Lloyd to put in a great kick which caused confusion in the visitors’ defence, allowing Ashmead to notch his first try of the season.
Gillbanks added the extras, along with a penalty five minutes later.
Vale hit back with a superb converted try but Unsworth went over for another Tyldesley try after a spell of pressure for a 15-7 lead at the interval.
Tyldesley conceded another try within the first six minutes of the restart after some sloppy defence and three points was the margin.
However, to their credit, Tyldesley went back at their opponents and scored after some great interplay between forwards and backs leading to Murray sneaking in at the corner.
From that point Tyldesley more than rode their luck, as Vale battered the home line but they defended well.
Finally the pressure told as Vale crossed for another converted try.
As the game was coming to a close, Tyldesley looked like they were heading out of the cup as a Vale player moved at pace towards the home line but Lloyd somehow produced a fantastic tackle over his own line, dislodging the ball and preventing a certain try.
At the final whistle a huge sigh of relief could be heard, along with the celebrations, as everyone realised just what this team had achieved to date.
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