Brave display bags great win

Aug 27 2001 By Chris Roberts, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Broncos 12 - 21 Giants. HUDDERSFIELD'S brave Giants overcame all the odds to secure one of their greatest Super League victories and keep their hopes of avoiding relegation alive.

Coach Tony Smith's heroes dug deeper than ever before to achieve a win few thought was possible.

The record 52-10 triumph over Warrington two months ago will provide the fondest memories.

But in so many ways, this latest triumph was even better, and for so many different reasons.

Despite facing a full-strength Broncos side who went into the game still with an outside chance of reaching the top-five play-offs, the visitors were far from daunted.

They defended magnificently from start to finish, made the most of the limited chances that came their way and played with enough guts and determination to last a lifetime.

It may not have been the prettiest of top-flight contests, with the atrociously wet conditions making handling a lottery, but who cared!

Certainly not the couple of hundred dedicated Huddersfield supporters who made the long trip South, that's for sure!

The chants of `Staying up, staying up' could be heard around The Valley long after the final hooter.

And on the evidence of this showing such pronouncements won't be far off the mark.

Even though coach Smith was forced to leave out the suspended hooker Paul Rowley and injured full-back Paul Reilly and opted to replace Ben Kusto with Mark Moxon in the pivotal scrum-half berth, the shape and balance of the side never once suffered.

In fact, it's unlikely Smith could have been much happier with the way his incoming trio performed under pressure.

Moxon was as solid as a rock in the middle of the field and immediately struck up a magnificent half-back partnership with the inspirational Brandon Costin.

Toby Green could not have filled Rowley's shirt more effectively and unquestionably got the better of former Australian Test hooker Jason Hetherington.

And Ben Cooper turned out to be a superb stand-in for the in-form Reilly, with two brilliant tackles on Shane Millard and Andy Johnson saving certain tries during one first-half spell of relentless Broncos' pressure.

But even though the Giants' coaching staff will have been delighted with these three, they won't have had a monopoly on the praise.

That will surely have been shared out equally among all 17 players, because they were all a credit to the club.

The Giants led from start to finish, with the visitors having set the tempo and scene for the day as early as the third minute with the opening try.

A crunching double tackle on former Leeds and Halifax man Marvin Golden 10 yards from his own line forced the ball to spill out to the alert Green, who had just enough speed to take him over the whitewash.

Costin landed the conversion from in front of the posts and Green and the Giants had made the perfect start.

Fellow newcomer Moxon followed up with a magnificent 40-20 kick to settle his nerves and everything was going according to plan.

Unfortunately, however, the opening exchanges were not so kind on Cooper, who was sent to the sin-bin after 10 minutes for a professional foul on Tony Martin which had checked his run to the line.

Martin landed the penalty to reduce the deficit to four points and again the Giants were forced to play with 12 men for 10 minutes.

Luckily, on this occasion it didn't matter as the only points during that time came from the trusty boot of Costin with a 16th-minute penalty.

Cooper made amends in spectacular fashion with a magnificent defensive display which was central to the Giants going on to open up 16-2 lead by the 35th minute.

A Costin penalty midway through the half had nudged the Giants further in front.

But the inspirational Australian struck an even greater blow five minutes before the break.

More crunching tackles by the Giants defence forced New Zealand Test full-back Richie Barnett to spill the ball inside his own 25.

And Costin was on hand to collect the loose ball and slice through the defence.

The same player added the conversion and a 14-point lead had been achieved.

Two tries either side of half-time from Tony Martin and Greg Fleming threatened to swing the game back in London's favour.

But Huddersfield were not to be denied.

Despite being put under enormous pressure, the visitors' defence held firm and in the final four minutes, they made the game safe.

First, Moxon slotted over a drop goal, then Andrew Frew kicked ahead a loose ball, regathered and beat the cover to score in the corner.

MATCH FACTS

London Broncos - Barnett; Golden, Martin, Fleming, Roy; Dymock, Moran; Dooley (Retchless 20mins), Hetherington (Air 31mins), Cram (Gillett 35mins), Millard (Hetherington 68mins), Toshack, Johnson (Cram 52mins, Johnson 77mins).

Tries - Martin (39mins), Fleming (42mins).

Goals - Martin 2 from 3.

Huddersfield Giants - Cooper; Frew, Moana (Lomax 58mins), Gleeson, Langley; Costin, Moxon; Stone (Slicker 33mins, Stone 48mins), Green, Marshall (Molloy 28mins, Marshall 63mins), Gene (Thorman 60mins), Atkins, McNamara.

Tries - Green (3mins), Costin (34mins), Frew (78mins).

Goals - Costin 4 from 5.

Drop goal - Moxon.

Sin-binning - Cooper (9mins, professional foul).

Half-time - 8-16.

Referee - Stuart Cummings (Widnes).

Attendance - 1,800.

Penalties conceded - London 10, Huddersfield 8.

Top Giants tacklers - Green 26, McNamara 26, Atkins 24, Costin 24.

Next Huddersfield game - Home to Hull on Saturday.

Next Wakefield game - Home to Hull today (away to Halifax on Sunday).