They tackled, chased, and harassed Broughton Park as if their lives depended upon it.
Unfortunately for the last ten minutes they decided that the game was won and decided not to bother tackling anymore which spoilt what should have been an overwhelming win.

Starting strongly they quickly took the game to Park and within 3 minutes had points on the board.
Playing sensible rugby a penalty was awarded which Walker stroked over and they were on their way.
This was shortly followed by a Wayne Blyth try which Walker was unable to add the conversion to give Vale an early 8 – 0 lead.

Broughton Park showed they had some excellent players when their right wing blasted past the cover to take the ball up into the Vale 22 and were rewarded for their efforts when they picked up from the tackle and mauled their way over for a converted try. During this maul Walker managed to get himself a yellow card for illegal entry. This forced Vale to make changes with Blythe going off as well as Walker to make room for Coulshed, another kicker.

Not to be deterred by the reduced numbers Vale worked their way upfield through excellent driving and short passing between the forwards and were rewarded for this when Richard Clarke, a Uni recruit, drove over from short range. Coulshed was unable to add the extras but shortly after a terrific drive from the forwards again saw McIntosh go over for a try which Coulshed converted before being replaced by the return of Walker. 20 -7 after 22 minutes and things were looking good for Vale.

Shortly after the Broughton Park scrum half saw himself sent to the bin after too many words to the referee. This resulted in another penalty for Vale which Walker put over.

Right on half time after pressing the Park line Morrison dived over and with Walker’s conversion saw Vale with a comfortable 30 points to 7 lead to take into the break.

Straight from the KO Vale were again on the front foot and after two minutes Walker dotted over another penalty.
Shortly after that Tony Gilmour made his first change with Al Crookall replacing Joe Wallbank in the back row to add impetus to the forward drive.
Chances were made and discarded as Vale started to make errors. Dan Rainford was replaced on 57 minutes after a good stint at the coalface, Ryan Needham replacing him.

Vale started to become sloppy and they paid for it in the 61st minute when Park were allowed to run out of defence and their number 12 evaded a number of tackles to touch down for a try which the 10 converted.
The outside centre and winger were now being allowed far too much space but the Vale pack again took up the challenge with a lovely run from Matt Field and a delightful little pass saw Tom Cvijanovic under the posts for a well deserved try. At this stage Walker had been replaced by Coulshed who added the extra two points.
Shortly after on 71 minutes Antcliffe took a short pass and jinked over for an unconverted try to finish the Vale scoring.

At 52 – 14 and cruising the foot was taken well off the gas and Park were allowed to score three late tries by their speedy backs, the outside centre and right wing showing they were used to punching holes in the opposition. The result were tries for both wings and the outside centre in the 74th, 80th and 82nd minutes giving a final score of 52 -35 and making the match look a lot closer than it really had been.

Credit must be given to two Richard’s, Hodgson and Clarke who came into the side for their first games of the season and gave a settled feeling to the engine room with plenty of movement around the field.
Add to that the nonstop movement of Tom Cvijanovic, who has improved all season and seems to be everywhere. Jack McIntosh had his best game for the 2nds so far with some excellent runs but overall the whole team showed how they can play when they really want to.
With Charlie Lomas at 9 a good service was provided for Walker to show his distribution skills giving the backs plenty of ball to work with. Unfortunately over elaboration spoiled the chances for many more tries.

An excellent 70 minutes with the gloss taken off by the last 10. Hopefully for next weeks game at Rochdale a full stint is put in to eliminate the poorest display of the season in the first match there.