Rugby League
National Conference League
Division 2
Saturday 14th June 2025
Kick Off 14.30
Clock Face Miners 16 Pilkington Recs 16, attendance 210
@ Clock Face Miners Recreation Club
Crawford Street
Clock Face
WA9 4XL
£3 Admission
£1 Programme available, didn’t bother buying.
This was the big game in this division today, with 3rd hosting 4th in the league table, with both teams fighting for a promotion place behind leaders East Leeds, who top the table with a 100% winning record. With the clubs only five miles apart, it was good to see a crowd in excess of 200 here. The ground itself is a little disappointing, although the clubhouse was serving hot food and drinks. The clubhouse side of the pitch is fenced off, doubling as a barrier from the car park, whilst the opposite side is chain linked through wooden posts, with both ends being totally open and there’s no cover whatsoever, although as it remained dry, it wasn’t a problem.
Clock Face went in front after twelve minutes, forcing themselves over the line from a yard out, but were unable to convert the kick. Pilks were level midway through the half, when a high kick was fumbled by a defender and touched down on the dead ball line and they added the kick to lead 4-6. Pilks had a man sin binned on twenty nine minutes and three minutes later, following a brawl in the centre of the pitch, had a man sent off, with Clock Face also suffering a sin bin, so we were now left with 12 v 11 for the majority of what time was left in the half. Just before the break the eleven men went over in the corner to increase their lead to 4-10, but were unable to add the conversion. An easy try down the right saw Clock Face pull it back to 8-10 just minutes into the second half and they added the conversion to level the scores at 10-10. Five minutes later Pilks scored again under the posts, again converting, to lead 10-16 and despite being a man short, put up some great defence as they tried to hang onto their lead and still looked dangerous on the break. They were finally broken with seven minutes left, as an overlap on the left saw Clock Face go over on the corner and they added conversion was kicked to level the scores at 16-16. In the last minute Pilks missed a drop goal attempt to win it, quickly followed by one for Clock Face at the other end and right on the whistle the hosts saw a second one go wide of the posts, so we ended all square. Probably a fair result overall.
A good day out and not too bad traffic wise. The usual M25 queue from J9 towards the roadworks at J10, despite the latter exit/entry being closed and a diversion via the Black Country Route to avoid congestion at the M5/M6 intersection as I headed through the West Midlands. The return home saw the SatNav take me via a road I hadn’t realised even existed, the A533 Mersey Gateway Bridge, a new toll route, leading onto the M56 and avoiding Thelwall Viaduct if I’d taken the normal route via the M62 onto the M6.
