Hillmen beaten despite late fightback

Bottom of the table Glossop faced 2nd place high flyers West Park at Hargate Hill in glorious spring sunshine. 

The visitors got off to a quick start after good interpassing down the left wing saw them go over in the corner and the conversion was added to see Park lead 7-0.

The gulf of difference between the two teams was not obvious though and The Hillmen struck straight back with a try which saw No 8 Tom Raine  burst away from a lineout to dot down. Dearnaley added the extras to level the scores at 7 all.

Coach Kit Brammers Glossop side then put in a great defensive shift which held out until just before half time, when West Park forced their way over and converted to go into the break leading 14-7. 

The home sides forwards were punishing Park in the scrums and with monstrous tackles coming in from Prop Grime the visitors knew they were in for a tough second half. 

The St Helens side were handling well though and two tries followed for them to gain a bonus point for four tries . 

With the score at 26-7 in Parks favour, the Hillmen could well have dropped their heads but they responded magnificently. The Johnston brothers, Cole and Dylan were prominent in the fight back with great running and particularly when chasing back in defence. 

Sustained pressure from Glossop saw Scrum Half Jon Tennant force his way over in trade mark style and Tom Dearnaley again converted to reduce the deficit to 26-14. 

Tennant then caught the visitors defence napping with a quickly taken tap penalty which resulted in the impressive Dylan Johnston reducing the score to 26-19 and saw Glossop gain a bonus point for staying within 7 points of the winners. 

This may not have been a win for Skipper Zak Rounds men but it was a vastly improved performance over recent outings and will be a big boost to the squad going into the last two games of the season and hopefully give some impetus towards next season, following relegation.