Carrick 1st XV lost their League encounter with Grosvenor at Tom Simms Memorial Park on Saturday 3 November by 3 points to nil. The match was played in cold and windy conditions and neither side was able to master them for any length of time. Despite turning round at half time only 3 points down, after playing into the breeze in the first half ,and without hooker Glen Baxter for fifteen minutes of it , Carrick scarcely created a try scoring chance in the second half. Why it took them until the last ten minutes to start using the wind to try to keep Grosvenor penned in their own 22 is a mystery. The Maxol-sponsored Carrick side was under pressure in the scrums ,until the later stages at least, and the line-out was once again a problem area. However, they were clearly the superior attacking force when the ball did go to the backs and a little patience in building attacking situations would almost certainly have paid dividends. The main problems for Carrick, and to an extent their opponents, were handling errors in the difficult conditions, an inability to hang onto the ball when they had it and a high penalty count.
Carrick did well in the first half to stop Grosvenor from using the breeze to dominate territory and didn’t allow their opponents any serious try-scoring chances. Indeed, Carrick probably had the better chances thanks to significant line breaks by Johnny Sheriff early on and , Andy McIlroy and Neal Hannah towards half-time. However, on all three occacsions, the support was too late in arriving and the ball was turned over. The only score of the first half, and indeed the match, was a penalty kick by Grosvenor which,in the difficult conditions, just about staggered over.
The second half was, if anything, more full of error than the first and the only sustained periods of attack were by Grosvenor in the middle of the half and Carrick in the dying moments. Neither side though showed the patience neccessary to create a try and the game finished with the visitors’ penalty the only score.
Next week, Carrick play host to Section 1 side Clogher Valley in the quarter-finals of the Junior Cup. A much improved display will be neccessary if they are to progress.
The Carrick team whicg faced Grosvenor was:
A. McIlroy; A. Moore, J. Anderson, J. Wady, K. Love; J. Sheriff, R. Hamilton; R. Williams, G. Baxter, A. Gibney, A. Kincaid(Capt), C. Rea, N. Hannah, R. Marsden, N. Greenwood.
Fixtures for Saturday 10 November are:-
1st XV vs Clogher Valley, home
2nd XV vs Omagh II, away
3rd XV vs City of Derry III, away
4th XV vs Academy III, home
Next week, Carrick face
