Upton pulled off one the best victories in their history as they beat league leaders Dunlop on their own patch. Having not lost a home game in over two years the home side fancied their chances and this was evident in the unsavoury comments made by their coaching staff and players during the warm up. However Upton were up for this game. Firstly they wanted to put some records straight. Three years ago in the play offs for this league Upton were thumped at this ground, a game that didn't reflect Upton's ability but more importantly Upton had beaten Dunlop well at the beginning of the season, and particularly up front. And again this was the area Upton dominated. Right from the first scrum Upton held a significant advantage as the whole pack drove the home side backwards led by the powerful Sean Lancett. And this power from the forwards was evident in loose play as well as Dunlop spent the whole afternoon trying to batter through the visitors fringes but to no avail.

Upton started the game brightly recycling the ball well and pressurising Dunlop but as the visitors did the home side defended resolutely to give very few chances of a score.

In a tight first half it seemed that the scores would end 0-0 but this did not occur. As Dunlop could find no way through Upton's defence using hands they resorted to a kicking game. Full back O'Neil gathered and ran back with the ball all day with purpose, and just before half time gathered the ball on his 22 metre and began a counter attack. Spotting gaps on the left he sped into Dunlop's half before unloading to prop Russell Price. Sensing a 3 on 2 the mobile prop drew in the first defender before popping to Heeley. With what seemed no chance to gather and pass the talented Hooker flicked the ball straight to winger Dan Aldersey who sped in from 30 metres for a try. O'Neil converted 0-7. With only a minute to go until half time it was paramount to not concede but open side Mathie gave a penalty away and Dunlop converted to make it 3-7 as the whistle went.

Upton became their own worst enemies in the second half and spent the majority of it defending their own line as they continually made silly mistakes, gifting the ball back to the home side. However the defensive effort from the whole side ranging from the back row of Jones, Bookham and Mathie to Rich Mills in the centre was immense as Dunlop could not find a way through. As the home side tried to spread the ball wide close to Upton's line, they dropped the ball and the returning Alex Pimlow kicked up field and three or four touches of footballing skill enabled him to out pace the home side to score. The conversion was missed. 3-12.

This set up frantic final 15 minutes. Bolton, Lynch and Chris Harrold came on to add fresh legs as Upton had to continue to defend their hearts out.

Dunlop did manage an unconverted try in injury time but despite the ref playing 10 minutes of injury time the visitors held for a memorable victory.

BACK