Stourbridge RFC 39 - 25 Macclesfield RFC

STOURBRIDGE took a while to get going before finally securing a convincing home win against Macclesfield.

The first half was a tale of two sides low on confidence, Stour were seeking a first victory on their new AGP pitch while the visitors had not won away from home since April 2016.

Macclesfield scored first on six minutes but shortly after George Morgan hit back for Stour to settle home fans’ nerves.

A Chris Scott penalty added to the Stour total but Macc hit back when Stour failed to find touch with a clearance and Lomax crashed over.

A penalty forScott made it 13-10 to the hosts at half time.

Macclesfield levelled just after the restart with a penalty but that sparked Stour into action, with more urgency in their play and less unforced errors, although kicking for touch continued to cause problems for the hosts.

A Josh Trinham break put Nick Murphy in and Jack Lea added to the total to put the game beyond Macclesfield.

The visitors did not give up and traded blows with Stourbridge, a Brendan Berry score was cancelled out by a Nigel Mukarati try for Stourbridge and Dan Rundle piled on the pain with a score after the best Stour move of the match.

A late Macclesfield try was not enough to deny a deserved win for Stourbridge in a Christmas cracker of a second half which blew away some of the blues after recent defeats.