photo by Ian Lovell

Celtic Crusaders secured second place in the final Co-operative National League One table at the Brewery Field on Saturday evening with an excellent win over league leaders Salford City Reds in a highly charged game.

They will meet again in three weeks time at The Willows in the second round of the play-offs after both receiving a bye in round one.

Saturday’s result means that Salford and Crusaders have now well and truly officially earned their place in next year’s Super League both on and off the pitch after finishing first and second in the table respectively.

Crusaders finishing second is a tremendous achievement for the Welsh club. In only their third season in existence and in their first season in National League One, their record has been outstanding producing one of the best ever performance by a promoted club in the history of rugby league. Two promoted clubs have earned third placed finishes in the past – Hull FC in the old First Division in 1979-80 after promotion as champions the season before and Huddersfield in the old Second Division in 1992-93 after finishing top in the old Third in the previous year.

While the phrase a game of two halves is often used, on this occasion, it was the change in weather that affected the style of the match.

However the one thing that didn’t change was that, because of their outstanding performance in both first and second halves, the Crusaders were just and deserved victors with their defence shining with the stand out performers being Terry Martin, Chris Beasley, Aaron Summers and Tony Duggan, all of whom put in an outstanding effort to keep out a strong Salford side, restricting them to just a try in each half.

The first half was almost textbook rugby with the first eight minutes seeing all sets completed before Crusaders broke the deadlock with an excellent move that was started by Neil Budworth. Duggan and Martin were also involved with Luke Dyer diving in the left hand corner. Hannay converted well from the touchline.

Salford struck back with a very similar try. Started by stand-off Richard Myler, he set up John Wilshire who in turn passed to Matt Gardner who grounded. However Jordan Turner missed the kick.

Crusaders extended their lead on 27 minutes. Duggan picked up a Jace Van Dijk kick and opened a gap for Damien Quinn who ran it home. Hannay sliced the conversion wide.

They scored again from the first set after kick-off. Duggan again created the try with a neat flick and David Tangata-Toa, with virtually his first touch of the game after coming on as substitute, ran over. Lennon converted.

With the score at 16-4, Salford attempted a fightback. There was an opportunity for a try when Stephen Bannister broke through but Duggan put the pressure on him and he dropped the ball when stretching out to the line.

Gardner also had an opportunity to score after good work from Bannister and Wilshire but he was forced into touch by Anthony Blackwood and Mark Lennon.

Lennon himself had a chance to increase the lead before half-time with a tricky penalty which went wide.

With the Welsh summer rain now typically hammering down, the ball was now a lot greasier making the second half a complete contrast to the period that the fans had witnessed before as both sides struggled to complete sets due to the greasy ball.

Salford drew first blood in the second half when Stefan Ratchford slid in after just four minutes. Bannister converted.

Crusaders’ best chance for an immediate try back was denied by Karl Fitzpatrick. Van Dijk kicked wide and Dyer ran to ground but Salford’s full-back was first to the ball forcing a goal-line drop-out.

They also had a try disallowed for a knock-on. Quinn and Dyer played a couple of one-twos to set up Van Dijk and

the referee’s decision angered Luke Dyer who was sinbinned after throwing the ball away in frustration.

Salford had a chance for a try straight away but Luke Adamson dropped the ball

when running for the line.

That was probably the most significant handling error in the match as from the resulting scrum and set, Quinn broke through three tackles, flicked the ball over to Duggan who sold a dummy and ran through to score and build a ten-point lead.

It was an advantage they were never to lose and despite opportunities for both sides in the final stages of the match, neither teams could break through their opposing defences.

Crusaders’ coach John Dixon said: “When we arrived today, we thought that we could play well enough to win and that’s what happened. We felt we could be a force against Salford and I’m very pleased our all-round performance across the park today, and of course, with the result.

“By finishing first and second both sides get a real chance to freshen up. We’ll have a break, come back and train hard and we’ll prepare to play at Salford which I’m sure we’ll be an excellent game.”

His opposite number Shaun McRae was unhappy at the result but positive about the near future.

“You’re never happy about losing a game but I don’t think we deserved to win,” he said. “We were pretty good defensively, offensively we turned over far too much ball. We went from 67% completion rate in the first half to 54% in the second and that’s probably not enough to win a game. The Crusaders were roughly 85% and 70%, they were clearly a lot better with the ball than us in very tough conditions. I don’t think we played anywhere near as well as we could have. However we have a few weeks off now – we haven’t had many weeks off this season – so hopefully we will be fresh and ready for when the Crusaders visit in three weeks.”

CELTIC CRUSADERS
1. Tony Duggan
2. Luke Dyer
3. Josh Hannay
4. Mark Dalle Cort
5. Anthony Blackwood
6. Damien Quinn
7. Jace Van Dijk
8. Jordan James
9. Neil Budworth
10. Gareth Dean
11. Chris Beasley
14. Aaron Summers
13. Terry Martin
Subs:
18. Ian Webster
15. Mark Lennon
16. Ben Flower
17. David Tangata-Toa
Tries: Dyer (8), Quinn (27), Tangata-Toa (30), Duggan (65)
Goals: Hannay 1/2, Lennon 1/3
Sinbinned: Dyer (ungentlemanly conduct, 63)

SALFORD CITY REDS
1. Karl Fitzpatrick
2. Matt Gardner
3. Stuart Littler
4. John Wilshire
5. Paul White
6. Stefan Ratchford
7. Richard Myler
8. Adam Sidlow
9. Malcolm Akler
10. Craig Stapleton
11. Ian Sibbit
12. Luke Adamson
13. Jordan Turner
Subs:
14. Robbie Paul
15. Stephen Bannister
16. Philip Leuluai
17. Paul Highton
Tries: Gardner (18), Ratchford (44)
Goals: Turner 0/1, Bannister 1/1
Attendance: 1,447
Men of the Match: Crusaders – Duggan, Salford – Myler
Penalties: 4-5
Scoring Sequence: 6-0, 6-4, 10-4, 16-4, 16-10, 20-10
Half-time: 16-4

Gamestar: Tony Duggan was back to his best, sneaking ahead of players like Summers, Beasley, Quinn and Martin to clinch the award, for his outstanding all-round performance.

Gamebreaker: Crusaders’ first half performance in both attack and defence built the lead and they held onto it.

Weather: Dry in the first half, very wet in the second.

Match Rating: 3/5

article by Ian Golden
23 August 2008