GRITTY, battling performance by Caldy that wasn't pretty or the best game they can muster was nevertheless enough to bag all the points at Lymm.
Lymm kicked off and opened up this game with all guns blazing and Caldy saw little of the ball in the first five minutes.
This resulted in Lymm open-ing the scoring on six minutes when second row Calderbank burst through and over the try line with the simple conversion for Thatcher to follow for 7-0.
Within minutes Caldy had a reply of their own when solid work from the Caldy props Matt Green and Dirk Willems set up a line out on five metres. Sam Dickinson took the ball comfort-ably in the line and it was fed to Jake Lyon on the burst for him to score in the corner.
Marcus Coast added the impressive wide conversion to bring the scores level.
Under pressure Lymm were forced to give away a penalty and Coast penalised them in the best way by slotting the kick for 7-10.
Some good breaks particularly when Wylie joined the line pressed the visitors into the Lymm half.
The Caldy forwards continued to work very hard and their hard work was illuminated by some good backs play.
On 32 minutes Lymm moved the ball quickly from left to right and at last found Hopkinson in some space. The ex-London Wasps academy player who has recovered from injury showed his pace and scored in the corner. With the conversion missed the score remained at 12-10.
Caldy continued to misfire in certain areas and uncharacteristically missed tackles to make their task the harder. Gareth Bansor continued to impress at open side and once again pressure on the Lymm side saw them cede a further penalty and Coast was on hand to punish for 12 - 13 as the seconds ticked away in the first period.
However, with eight minutes gone a further penalty gave Coast power to add for 12-16.
In the heat of the battle guts and experience count and Caldy's skipper Jon Bagley display both. Marcus Coast upped the tempo in the backs and added a further penalty kick.
However, Lymm hit back when a good kick into the corner set up a line out on five metres and once again Calder-bank went over to score. The kick was missed to leave a slender two-point advantage to the visitors but it was they who posed all of the questions as they came forward and an off-side penalty offence gave Coast the opportunity to add three more points for 17-22.
On 70 minutes the real Caldy did turn up with some superb forward interlinking between Bansor and Jake Lyon making 25 yards followed by good communication between the Dutchman, Willems and hooker Paul Feely.
The backs joined the running party and Coast finished what was a superb score. He added the extras for good measure and it was 17-29.
This now leaves Caldy two points clear at the top of the division prior to welcoming Aspull to Paton Field for a 2.30 p.m. kick off.
