Shropshire Star

Oswestry Eagles still seeking first points

A young Oswestry side are still looking for their first points of the season in South Lancs and Cheshire One after being downed 58-5 at Manchester.

Published

It was a fourth defeat for the Eagles since their elevation to the higher division. They also lost fly-half Ryan Sorrell who was taken to hospital with a suspected fracture.

In the first ever meeting between the sides, Manchester – spurred on by their many supporters – drew first blood with a well-worked try on the big pitch, followed by a penalty.

But the Eagles were putting some good moves together, Sorrell letting his backs run and centre Andy Merrett scampering through the Manchester defence.

The young pack led by new No.8 Matt Colee were working hard, but a soft mistake brought a second try, converted. A sin-binning and the departure of Sorrell saw Oswestry leak three tries to trail 29-0 at the turn.

Manchester continued to run in the scores, but Oswestry got a late consolation try when Colee drove his way over.

"Saturday's game was a hard pill to swallow," said coach Gaz Barrett. "We were quite a bit off the pace against an average side who weren't 50-plus points better than us. Again we battled right up to the final whistle."

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.