Battling Panthers edge out Moor
NEWSOME Panthers have reached the semi-finals of the Holliday Cup.
They secured a hard-fought 26-18 triumph at Emley Moor to set up a potential last-four clash with St Joseph's in what would be a repeat of last season's final.
That's dependent on the outcome of St Joseph's quarter-final tie against Slaithwaite Saracens at The Glen, which was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
But there were no problems on a perfect Welfare Ground pitch where the Panthers just did enough to hold off the challenge of fellow Pennine League Division II rivals.
In fact, it was the hosts who did all the early running and were soon 8-4 ahead with tries from Darren Southwell and Ben Adamson to two penalties from Ross Studholme.
Yet it was the visitors who finished the half the stronger, grabbing two quick-fire tries through Damien Kenchington and Jamie Taylor to lead 14-8 at the beak.
In the second half, visitors Newsome had to withstand mounting Moor pressure, and had it not been for the excellent defensive lead set by Nathan Chappel (with 26 tackles), the home side could have stolen the tie.
Emley were still able to cross for tries from Simon Davies and Dave Pawson and add a goal from Adamson.
But the decisive score came from man-of-the-match Ben Feehan who capitalised on strong work in the forwards from Steve Morgan and Andy Brick to score the match- winning try.
And the steady Studholme's conversion, as well as three penalties to complete a seven-goal tally, rounded off an excellent all-round Panthers' performance.
