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Wyke are in treble heaven

Wyke are in treble heaven

John Rayner24 Sep 2019 - 08:04
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Wyke signed off their season with a commanding 28-18 victory over Ossett trinity in the playoff final

Wyke signed off their season with a commanding 28-18 victory over Ossett trinity in the playoff final. Wyke have now ended the season with the Bradford cup, the league title and the playoff final trophy.
Wyke who travelled in numbers to post office road, Featherstone started the game going up the hill. The start of the game was littered with mistakes and it was Ossett who took a 6-0 lead after good approach play and their hooker diving over. However that would be Ossett’s last points until the last 10 minutes, as Wyke took the game from them in fine style. First man of the match James Cullen ran straight through the Ossett line after a very illusive run from hooker Oscar Woodhead. Brad Clarkson converted to level the game at 6-6. Wykes forwards, who dominated the larger Ossett pack then took the ball up the field through the fantastic Alec Williams and 80 minute prop Charles Grocock to allow winger Tevin Campbell to feed Brad Clarkson who then found giant wingman Cameron Foster who beat his opposite number and run across the back line to score. Clarkson converted. Ben Kelly was introduced and after some great work hobbled from the field after 5 minutes with a recurring knee injury. With Wyke in the ascendency the Osset side we’re the ones who were glad to hear the half time hooter. With both teams finding some shade during the halftime break the game kicked back off just behind schedule and Wyke instead of resting on their lead took the game to Ossett. Clarkson broke first and then Jordan Payton found Brad Peel who shot in to give Wyke a 10 point lead. James Cullen then grabbed his Brace after fine work from influential captain Jordan Payton and loose forward Nathan Marchant.
Wykes forwards, who in previous games against Ossett had been matched, suddenly found another defensive gear and with a number of ferocious tackles particularly by Luke Robinson the Ossett forwards started going backwards. This allowed Wyke good field position and when a counter attack started by James Waine and backed up by Calvin Barker and Ryan Kershaw down the left lively hooker Coby Kittsen to found Clarkson who added a try to his points haul to make it 24-6 with 15 minutes remaining. After a crunching tackle from Robinson a number of players got involved and the referee sent the prop to the bin and play continued after a short period while the giant Osset forward was carried off to the sidelines feeling the after effects of what was a fair hit by his opposite number. Wyke with 12 men marched down the field and when Payton and Clarkson combined again it was Willie Woodhead barged his way in at the corner to put Wyke 28-6 up with 7 minutes left to play. Osset then started throwing the ball about and managed to reduce the deficit through their fullback. The game was stopped again for a serious leg injury to an Osset player and with Wyke already in celebration mode Osset chipped over and gathered to make the scoreline respectable at 28-18. However with the large Wyke crowd counting down the final seconds it was Wykes day and they celebrated in style, with many of the juniors getting on the pitch to congratulate their senior players.
Coach Ian Wormald had this to say “firstly I’d like to thank the Wyke fans who travelled over they where brilliant today. On the game, if we take out the first ten and the last ten of that game, that’s the best we have played all season. Our forwards were very good today and with the early loss of Ben Kelly and Nathan Marchant getting a bad cut they all dug in and showed their metal today. I thought Osset did a good job to keep our left side quieter today, although they didn’t quit stop them as they were involved in all our build up today and after Ossett being ripped apart by them in the previous encounter we realised they had loaded that side defensively, but I think they underestimated what our right side have to offer and how good our halves are. We have had a great season and this squad, which is still very young can do bigger and better things. We’ve had some real stand out leaders this season and even when we lost our captain Jordan Payton to an horrendous injury and vice captain Calvin Barker the senior players have stepped up and lead from the front, that tells me the squad has strength in depth not only in ability but in attitude. My targets for the team were achieved a few weeks ago with promotion and the Bradford cup, but this bunch of lads wanted more and achieved something no Wyke team has ever achieved. I’d like to thank everyone at Wyke but particularly the open age coaching staff and physios who have given up hours of their time to support this great achievement”.
Wykes chairman John Rayner added " This is an amazing acheivement for the Open Age squad and i would like to thank the players, physios and coaching staff for all their efforts this year. Winning the treble has really put Wyke back on the Rugby League map and with our junior set starting to produce a consistent stream of players into the Open age squad there's exiting times ahead for Wyke".
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