The Road to Wembley - Part 1

Challenge Cup Round 1

Leigh Miners Rangers 14 Underbank Rangers 20 - Saturday, 30 January 2016

Like every rugby league fan I was highly anticipating the new season getting underway.  Having collected League Express for a couple of weeks around Christmas and New Year I clocked eyes on the draw for the First Round of the Challenge Cup.

Having already guaranteed myself a ticket to the Final at Wembley in August an idea came to my head – why not try and get to a game in every round of this year’s Challenge Cup?  I happened to say this in passing to the wife and was duly answered by a raise of an eyebrow, but thankfully she was willing to participate in my little adventure.

I got the idea from when I worked in non-league football where I met a few guys from Newcastle who were doing the same thing with the FA Cup and their path crossed a few of our games.

I checked the fixtures as I wanted to seek the nearest one to my home.  I saw Leigh Miners Rangers were hosting Underbank Rangers and thought perfect, it’s practically round the corner ... It worked out that I had the weekend free and thus, my journey begun!

I knew that the Miners had conquered all before them last season winning what I term the ‘non-league’ treble of NCL Premiers, Grand Final and Conference Trophy, but I had to do a bit more digging into who Underbank were.  Incidentally they won promotion to Division One last season so this game seemed to be an intriguing one to watch but Leigh were the overwhelming favourites.

So, having parked up at Twist Lane, situated close behind the more imposing Leigh Sports Village, I walked up to the only turnstile at the ground and paid the £4 to get myself and my wife into the game.  The man running the turnstile seemed to think that my wife was a regular to Miners games!  Maybe she was secretly going while I was at football last season?

The first place we ventured to was the pitch-side club house where I enjoyed a pre-match pint of bitter (a pint of cider for the lady) and had a flick through the match programme which was purchased at the entrance for a whole £1.  I was impressed to find that it was a full colour edition with plenty of info about the club and included the odd player and coach interview which I like to see.

The ground filled up and the game kicked off in that traditional ‘summer rugby’ weather of sleet, snow, hail and rain punctuated with a brief hint of sunshine every now and then.  Thankfully there was a covered porch area where we, along with many other supporters, spent most of the match craning our necks over everyone else to see the action out on the pitch.

The first half went the way of the Conference Premiers as expected, but the mixed weather meant that the game was still fairly open at half time with the score at 14-4 to the Miners.  A half time hot chocolate for the wife and a portion of chips for me were purchased from the tea hut, at a very reasonable price and we were ready for the second half.

Underbank surprised their hosts with a second try eight minutes after the restart and when Miners were sent down to 12 men the visitors took full advantage to level the tie a minute later with a converted try before an excellent second half performance from Underbank saw them grab a shock win with a couple of minutes to spare.

The final score read Leigh Miners Rangers 14 Underbank Rangers 20 and the match favourites were out!  It was clear to see what that meant them as they ran on the pitch at the final whistle and celebrated like they won the whole competition.  Fair play.

All-in-all it was a good afternoon at the rugby (for less than £12) which provided a surprise comeback victory for the underdogs and good rugby despite the conditions.

I must note that I did try and get a picture of the scoreboard at full time but the lads running it seemed to be disappointed as the boards came down before I could get my phone out of my pocket.  Oh well!

As is the tradition when going to a game in every round I wait impatiently and with baited breath for the second round draw and finding out where I would be going next.