North Manchester 14 Chorley RUFC 8

CHORLEY'S promotion prospects suffered a setback with an unexpected defeat by a much improved North Manchester side.

Had Chorley emerged victorious, they would have been almost certain of going up at the end of the season. But now it's all back to the melting pot, with Chorley's next home fixture against close rivals Clitheroe likely to decide the matter.

North Manchester played well throughout, scoring after just seven minutes - when they capitalised on the Chorley pack's sluggishness, with a drive over the line from close quarters to take the lead 5-0. It took Chorley a full 15 minutes to liven up.

The second half started well for Chorley, Jones forcing his way over in the left hand corner with barely five minutes gone. Chorley reclaimed the ball from the restart and went straight back on the offensive. This first real period of sustained pressure yielded a penalty kick, but the unfortunate Westhead hit the post with his conversion attempt.

With ten minutes left on the clock, Chorley pulled back to within a converted try of victory with a Riches penalty.

The North Manchester defence started to creak under the strain and Chorley's number eight Howard Faulkener looked to have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat when he forced his way over the line in the dying seconds to touchdown. But it was not to be - his try was disallowed and North Manchester ran out winners.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.