League leaders Wirral 2 defeated Vale 2 at Thornton Common Road 12-0 in October and arrived at Powderhouse Lane having only lost one of their nine league fixtures played, which was away to Sandbach at the end of October, but they were vanquished by an effervescent Vale side which pounced not only any errors that Wirral made but launched a number of spirited attacks which resulted in a dancing nine try stocking filler.
Club Coach, Joel Unsworth put the squad through an intensive pre match work out and although Wirral made a promising opening it was the Vale who took the lead in the sixth minute with a try from winger Ryan Busby, the first of his four. A sweeping attack featured a searing break from Alfie Bolton, who was playing his final game before joining the army, in a move that ended with Ryan Busby sprinting clear for his try which he converted.
Six minutes later another passage of slick passing put Ryan Busby in space which was fully exploited for an unconverted try. Wirral refused to bend the knee, their forwards forced the Vale on the defensive and only some forthright Vale tackling deep in their twenty two thwarted Wirral’s advances.
All Wirral’s efforts to close the gap were undone in the twenty sixth minute when an error was pounced on, the ball was quickly shipped to the right for Ryan Busby to dash stylishly away for his hat trick try which was not converted. Wirral hardly had time to reorganise before the Vale were crossing the whitewash again. A rugby ball can be an elusive cove when it is allowed to bounce and in the twenty ninth minute flanker Reuben Orr was the beneficiary when he was the first to react as the defenders hesitated, he pelted away for his try while some watched on, which was converted by Ryan Busby.
Lock Dan Rainford was ideally positioned to complete a pulsating passage of ball handling skills with a shake of the hips and a swan dive by the post protector for a popular try converted by Ryan Busby in the thirty first minute.
Every Vale move was greeted with shouts of “ole” from Sandbach’s Junior Colts who were in full voice in the stand, at times it was akin to being in the Camp Nou or the Santiago Bernabeu and before they left to board the coach for their return journey home they belted out a lusty rendition of “Sweet Caroline” as they rocked and rolled their way in the direction of Christmas.
At this stage of the game there was no stopping the Vale cavalry and before referee Ralston’s blew the half time blast on his bugle the hosts added one more converted try after the man of the moment, Dan Rainford, flicked a basketball style pass to Noah Tully who scampered up the gang plank, his try was converted by Ryan Busby.
In the fifty second minute after a period of Vale pressure the hard working Henry Higginson snaffled up a loose ball to cross for an unconverted try. Holding a comfortable lead the Vale let their concentration wander; Wirral, and their forwards in particular, seized the moment to wrestle the Vale over for an unconverted try in the sixty second minute but the conversion attempt bumped along the crossbar but refused to go over.
Seven minutes later the Vale’s fairy lights were fully switched on when following an attack inspired by lock Steve Tagg, who thundered through tackles, the ball was swept to the right flank where the lurking Petar Alexov had time and space to collect his try, Ike Eastwood’s conversion attempt hit the upright but failed to go over.
Ryan Busby brought the curtain down on a splendid personal achievement with an unconverted try in seventy second minute, his contribution assisting the Vale to record their second fifty plus victory of the season a result that left their players and supporters “walking in the air” at the conclusion of a festive cracker that had one and all ready to “Step into Christmas.”