This week Southport Storm travelled to Bury Broncos and earned their first win of the season.

The Storm started the game well and mounted pressure on the Broncos trapping them in their own half for the opening five minutes. A penalty for offside allowed Bury into Southport's half but Bury were soon defending their line again after the ball was passed wide to Adam Atkinson who made a spectacular run down the right wing outpacing several defenders and was unlucky to be stopped yards from the try line.



Again Southport gave away an unnecessary penalty allowing Bury into their half. This time Bury were able to capitalise on it and after a lot of pressure on the Southport line they eventually scored the games opening try.

The Storm responded well and made several strong runs through Adam Stretch, Liam Armstrong, Alan Coward, Justin Priest and Calum Monaghan. Then lightning fast full back Ben Walton shocked the Bury defence with his pace and after side stepping three defenders he scored an impressive try.

The Storm continued to pile on pressure and hooker Mike Sheard fed half back Will Scott-Abbott who chipped the ball over the defensive line to test the Bury fullback who mis-judged the bounce of the ball. Sheard had chased the kick and was rewarded for his efforts as he gathered up the lose ball to score under the posts.

Southport were dominating the game but Bury hit back with a second try against the run of play to level the score.

Southport went straight back onto the front foot through weaving runs from Jamie Rodd and Phil Symes which got Southport into Bury's half. Shortly after Rob Roberts was tackled just short of the try line which set up a try for Sam Collison who was too powerful to be stopped by the Broncos defence.

Only moments later Southport were attacking the Bury try line piling on further pressure and Sheard passed to Collison who crashed over the line again with a try almost identical to his first.

Bury did not seem to have an answer to Southport's pressure and the Storm looked likely to score a third try in five minutes as the half time whistle was blown to the relief of the home side. The half time score was 10-20.

Early in the second half Southport struggled to play with the same tempo and conceded two tries in five minutes cutting the lead from ten points to two points.

Southport then brought on Paul Fearon, Bill Mulholland, Mike Shaw and Rei Chambers who all made a positive impact on the game. The Storm were playing with the dominance they enjoyed in the first half again but struggled to get over the try line. Jamie Rodd looked likely to score a sixty metre try under the posts but was tackled by the chasing fullback 5 metres out from the line.

Bury had been spreading the ball wide in the second half but fooled the Southport defence with an inside pass to a prop who scored against the run of play to take the lead again. Southport were later awarded a penalty inside their own half and the two half backs Scott-Abbott and Storm skipper Dave Oliver surprised the defence who were lined up ready for a run from a forward. Oliver through a long pass out wide to Scott Abbott directly from the tap who committed a defender which opened a gap for Collison to run through supported by Mulholland and Symes.

For ten minutes Southport constantly attacked the Bury try line and came very close to scoring. They threw everything they had at Bury who defended admirably. The Storm executed a planned move with Oliver passing to Roberts who then fed Walton who came close to scoring a second try. Priest and Symes also came very close to scoring.


With only four minutes remaining Roberts made a break and beat two defenders and offloaded out of the tackle from the Bury fullback to Collison who slid over the line to score his hat rick and more importantly the match winning try.

This was a brilliant display of enthusiasm, commitment and teamwork from the Storm who deserved their victory. The man of the match award went to centre Rob Roberts.


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