Underbank Rangers have finally done it.
After just failing to secure promotion to Division II of the National Conference League 12 months ago, they made no mistake second time around with a thoroughly-deserved 20-6 home lay-off final triumph over Crosfields.
Player-coach Richard Knight’s men may have been disappointed to have missed out to Featherstone Lions and Blackbrook in gaining automatic promotion.
But in a way, going up via the play-offs and emerging victorious through a Grand Final is a far more satisfying route. There’s nothing to beat the glory of winning a final, especially when there’s the added bonus of a promotion at the end of it!
And it feels even better when the final is a full-blooded encounter, with no quarter given or taken, like this one at The Cross.
With Rangers battered and bruised and struggling to get 17 fit bodies fit and ready to play, they knew they would need to play well to beat a full-strength Crosfields side led superbly by former Widnes and Warrington Super League prop Steve Pickersgill.
Fortunately, they did.
After a tight first half, which the hosts edged 10-6, Underbank took control and made their extra class tell to end up claiming a victory that no-one could argue against,
They also produced a top-quality defensive display, as the fact they restricted Crosfield’s to a solitary 33rd-minute Troy Brophy try, converted by Jack Reid, clearly showed.
Apart from that one well-worked effort, the Warrington-based side found it virtually impossible to bang down the solid Bank wall – and that foundation paved the way for Underbank to score their four decisive tries.
Michael Lang set the ball rolling with the opening try after 18 fiercely-contested minutes, powering on to a Michael Murphy offload to finish strongly.
Neil Barrett was unable to convert, but made amends 10 minutes later by launching a towering bomb which visiting full-back David Rolt spilled straight into the arms of Dan Pawson to stroll over under the posts to make it 10-0.
Brophy’s try proved Crosfields remained a potential threat.
But despite a strong start to the second half, they were unable to close the gap and Rangers grabbed two further tries to seal their opponents’ fate.
Try No3 came after 48 minutes when a Andy Boothroyd grubber-kick ricocheted off a number of legs for Luke Pogson to pounce and get the vital touch.
Then on the hour, the influential Knight spotted a gap close to the Crosfield line, dummied and plunged over.
With Barrett failing to add both conversions from wide out, the game was still far from over at 18-6.
But that all changed with 10 minutes remaining when a Knight 40-20 set up the position for Barrett to land a penalty and take his side’s three scores ahead.
It was game over, and a great Underbank win – and much to the delight of a proud player-coach.
“This win is massive for us,” said Knight.
“After missing out last year, when we played well all season and lost just four times, was horrible, so we knew we had to gain promotion this time. We didn’t want to go through that again.
“We obviously had to do it the tough way through the play-offs.
“But it’s a great feeling to win a final and go up all in one go.
“And the fact everyone contributed made this victory even better, particularly as there were so many busted bodies out there.
“I was confident we could win this game, but the injuries to so many players did make it a lot harder.”
Knight is also confident his club can prove a major force in the higher division.
“Over the past couple of years, we’ve beaten a lot of teams in higher divisions in the Cup,” he added.
“We’ve beaten teams from Division I and Division II, including Leigh East who we beat by 60 and will be in our division next season, and we’ve also come very closer to knocking out Wath Brow and East Leeds from the Premier Division, so we’ve no worries about the step up at all.”
Underbank Rangers: Knight; Noel, Chatterton, Lang, Pawson; Barrett, Pogson; Valentine, Berry, Karolczuk, Murphy, Adam, Nelmes. Subs: Boothroyd, St Hilaire, Farrand, Joyce.
Tries: Lang, Pawson, Pogson, Knight.
Goals: Barrett 2.
Crosfields: Rolt; Boden, Brophy, Mahoney, Hamilton; Reid, J Clarke; Brazendale, James, Pickersgill, Barber, Bani, Moore. Subs: Whittaker, Boden, Mellor, D Clarke.
Try: Brophy.
Goals: Reid.
Half-time 10-6.
Referee: Liam Moore.
