Overall Stockport excursion to Beverley had to be deemed a disappointment. Stockport showed too much frailty in the centre of their defence and the home side exploited this to great effect and scored three tries via this route.

As is often the case at this level the first quarter of the game was very tight with the sides exchanging penalties in quick succession. Stockport took the lead with a Matt Bebbington drop goal after 25 minutes and it looked as if they might get to the half time break with their narrow lead in tact.

Then, as the game opened up, Beverley’s influential No8 Dave Worrall received the ball in midfield and spotted a gap in the Stockport defence. Worrall’s pace took him through the gap and he ran all the way to the line without serious opposition. With the conversion that followed it gave the home side a 10-6 lead that they took into the break.

Stockport came out brightly from the restart and within 3 minutes their Greg Newton finished a good attack. 11-6. It was inevitable that Beverley would come straight back and it was important for the visitors to hold their lead for a significant time. They failed to do this as their South Sea Island Centre, Junior Tapai, gained in confidence and found a hole in the defence on the right. He off loaded to his full back, Richard Bussey, who ran in to score. 17-11.

Stockport re-organised and with full back Steve Pearson moving to fly half and this brought some success when Pearson made a half break close to the Beverley line and managed to off load to Man of the match Prop Tom Cruse who was in close support. 17-16.

The nail in Stockport’s coffin came when Junior Tapai found space to run through he found a Beverley shirt in support and their No. 6 Chris Hancock ran in for the crucial score. 24-16 and there was no way back for the visitors.

Stockport return to Headlands Road this Saturday for a game against Birkenhead Park, Kick Off is at 2.15pm