Better late than never for Garside
Wibsey 15, Stocksbridge 13.
Paul Garside had a funny sort of a Saturday afternoon - and that wasn't just because Wibsey won their first league match in 36 attempts!
The 28-year-old prop didn't arrive at the ground until 14 minutes had been played in this Yorkshire Division Three clash after mistakenly believing the game was half a mile away at Wibsey's other ground Beldon Lane, and didn't even get on until ten minutes into the second half.
But he played a key role in Wibsey's first try as they recovered from 13-0 behind to win their first league match since Moor-town were beaten on September 28, 1996 in the season Wibsey were relegated from Yorkshire Division One.
Depleted Wibsey, who were playing uphill, had been defending manfully and decided, with nine minutes gone and not knowing where Garside was, to bring on replacement back Andy Todd.
He went into the centre, Micky Ball switching to the back row. Five minutes later Garside arrived, but he only replaced make-shift prop Graham Rackstraw in the second half. However, there was still time for Gar-side to make a vital contribution.
"We had a ruck after a line-out," said father-of-four Garside, "and I set off on a bit of a run.
"My fellow prop Bob Wood was on my inside and I gave it to him, and Micky Ball was on his shoulder for the score.
"But this win has been coming for a few weeks, and, ironically, I think we played better last week when we lost 20-3 at home to Leeds Corinthians. We lost 86-0 to them in October."
"Week on week we are playing better as a team, particularly in the forwards, and now we have a bit more class outside the pack too."
On a pitch that was, not surprisingly, very heavy in places, Wibsey should have only been 3-0 behind at half-time.
Instead, however, Stocksbridge scored ten points in the last two minutes of the half, centre Martin Bye converting right winger Wayne Hirst's try and adding a penalty to his earlier penalty.
The error in the build-up to the try was made by winger Dan Horsfall. He tried to kick the ball clear at an acute angle on a muddy pitch, instead of using nearby full back Richard King, who was ready for a pass.
Horsfall's attempt just died in the turf, Stocksbridge fly half Dave Francis kicked the ball on, and Hirst beat King to the touchdown.
The try by Ball made it 13-5, a King penalty followed in the 70th minute, and a silly obstruction by Stocksbridge on Ball after he had kicked ahead gave Wibsey their chance.
Scrum half Paul Durn took a quick tap penalty and fed Wood, who gave the scoring pass to 44-year-old fly half Colin Robinson.
King's calm conversion gave Wibsey the lead at 15-13, but they still had to endure two heart-stopping moments when Bye missed penalties in injury time before the celebrations could really start.
Bill Marshall