At times Hoppers looked as if they were about to cut loose and some scintillating handling put them 14 points up after just 6 minutes. Morley kicked off and mounted a forward drive for the line but, when they lost control at the base of a ruck, Paul Bailey pounced and a perfectly timed pass to Russell Flynn saw the big winger brush aside an attempted tackle to sprint 60 metres to score and Bailey converted. Almost from the restart, another superb handling move, which included an outrageous dummy from prop Toby Foster, swept the length of the field and, although it seemed to break down near the line, the alert Will Hughes picked up and dived over and Bailey’s kick was good. Morley seemed shell-shocked and had little to offer apart from some speculative kicking and rolling mauls from their big but fairly static pack. But faced with the possibility of a heavy loss, they managed to claw their way back into the game. In the 18th minute, a dangerous move was halted by a knock-on and Hoppers' counter attack was stopped only at the expense of a penalty for a dangerous high tackle on Owen McKenna. The perpetrator, fly half Glen Boyd was yellow carded but Bailey was wide with the kick. The home pack were now dominating the tight and, having won a scrum against the head, made ground with a strong drive from the back row but honours were more even in the loose and Morley were intent on keeping play tight in an attempt to minimise Hoppers’ advantage in the backs. After 28 minutes, the tactic paid off when the pack drove over from a lineout, No.6 Matt Challinor claiming the touchdown but reserve kicker Mark Pease missed the conversion. Hoppers failed to make the extra man tell and, if anything, the visitors had the better of the play until half time but the score remained 14-5 at the break. Bailey’s restart kick off failed to cross the 10-metre line but Morley were once more under immense pressure in the resulting scrum and conceded a penalty and Bailey made amends by kicking a 50-metre goal. Near misses followed for both sides; Darren Wilson’s speed saved the day for Hoppers from a teasing chip through, then Hughes charged down a kick but was beaten to the touchdown. Frustratingly, the home pack then lost the line out, perhaps the weakest part of their game during the match. In the 50th minute, a Morley forward was penalised for use of an elbow and Bailey kicked his second penalty. Hoppers kept up the momentum and camped on the visitors’ line. Morley were forced to collapse a maul and captain Foster opted for the scrum. A pick up and powerful drive from No.8 Juan Crous was finished off by Glyn Dewhurst and although Bailey missed the kick, Hoppers were cruising at 25-5. New South African lock Neil Wood made his debut from the bench but Hoppers failed to deal with the kick off and a rare handling move put wing Matt Callaghan in at the corner and Boyd’s excellent conversion reduced the deficit. Not for the first time this season, Hoppers seemed to surrender the initiative when well ahead, not helped by the sin-binning of lock Wayne Steel for killing the ball in the 62nd minute. Morley took the chance to turn on the pressure and first a scoring opportunity was lost due to crossing in the centre and then Callaghan was tackled into touch just short of the line. On 71 minutes, Mark Robey stole the ball in a maul and made ground to put his side back on the attack. Again Morley stopped a drive from the home pack, now back to full strength, illegally and, with a bonus point in their sights, Hoppers chose to kick for touch rather than goal. The drive from the line-out failed to get over the line and despite more pressure the 4th try proved elusive and the score remained 25-12 at full-time. The win puts Hoppers on top of the table, 3 points clear of Macclesfield. -------The views expressed on this page are those of the contributor and the opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the BBC. | 
