Narrow defeat to National League Two side (From Crewe Guardian)

Narrow defeat to National League Two side

12:30pm Thursday 30th August 2012 in Sport

Caldy 30 Sandbach 28

SANDBACH enjoyed a brilliant warm-up for their forthcoming National League Three campaign after suffering a narrow defeat at National League Two side Caldy in the quarter finals of the Cheshire Cup.

Sandbach open their league campaign against Derby on Saturday, kick off 3pm, and will be brimming with confidence after taking this match with higher league opposition to the wire.

The visitors spent the early stages getting used to the pace and power of the Caldy side, but did manage to shock the hosts when Will Cargill slotted over a 30-metre drop goal to open the scoring.

That seemed to shake up Caldy, who responded by pushing up a gear and scoring two tries in quick succession to take a 12-3 lead after 15 minutes.

But Sandbach themselves were starting to creep back into the contest, strong tackling from Ally Burton, Ross Sutherland and Jack Seddon helping them to find a foothold from which to launch an attack.

This led to a trademark Sandbach try, quick hands giving Jack Leech the centimetres required to cross the line, before Matt Jackson sent Matt Pollen over to hand the visitors a surprise lead.

Benny Elliot added one conversion and a huge penalty to make it 12-18 at the break.

Two converted penalties early in the second half helped Caldy close the gap, but Jackson was on hand to extend their lead once again with a try converted by Elliot.

Caldy, after concerted pressure within Sandbach's five-metre line, pushed over for a try to reduce the lead to 23-28, but with three minutes to play it looked as though the visitors would hold on for a superb victory.

That was until a turnaover allowed Caldy one last throw of the dice, which they clinically finished off when their prop charged over to level the score and the subsequent conversion handed them a narrow, last-minute victory.