Stockport travelled to Birkenhead Park for what was expected to be a tough fixture and what proved to be a 9 try roller coaster. To the neutral this would have been a really exciting game but for the Stockport players and supporters there was disappointment as they narrowly failed to overcome a 19 deficit to finish 2 points short at 27-29. However there was once again a try bonus point as well as a losing bonus point so Stockport remain 3 points clear of Morley at the top of the table.
Playing into a strong wind Stockport made a very positive start with an early try, Anthony made a break down the centre and Bebbington’s kick ahead was well taken by Drew before Cooper was held just short. The ball was quickly recycled and moved right for Newton to score the try. There was no conversion, Birkenhead responded with a penalty after their 10 had made a break . Stockport added a second try after a good series of drives by the forwards allowed Drew to offload for Anthony to score, again there was no conversion. The home side showed they were prepared to run the ball and scored a try after a Stockport pass went to an opposition player in midfield and the Park forwards went over for a converted try to bring the scores level. While there were a couple of decisions by the referee that went against Stockport it was poor tackling that allowed Park to score two more converted tries in the 10 minutes before half time with the score at 24-10 to Park.
The second half started badly with more poor defence allowing another Park try after only 5 minutes of the half. However rather than collapsing Stockport showed great determination to almost overcome the 19 point lead. Despite spurning the chance to take a relatively easy 3 points from a penalty Stockport kept up the pressure and hooker Cruse broke through the defence to score an unconverted try. Stockport played some great rugby and looked to have created a scoring chance but Drew’s pass was taken by the wind and judged forward. Some good driving won two penalties and the Park No 6 was yellow carded. Stockport powered over the line for a try that was converted from wide out by Pearson to take the visitors to within a converted try. The try came from another lineout take and drive but there was no conversion. With another Park player in the sin bin Stockport worked hard to get back into a points scoring position but the home side kept play in the Stockport half for most of the last 5 minutes and completed their 2 point victory.