By Liam Lawless
Huddersfield went down 22-14 to Birmingham & Solihull on Saturday afternoon in what has to go down as a bad day at the office.
‘Field have enjoyed some impressive performances at Lockwood Park this season but on this occasion some slack defending and an inability to break down the Birmingham & Solihull defence cost them.
It was a decent start from the home side, edging the possession in the first ten minutes and notching the first try with a prolonged scramble seeing Nick Sharpe force the ball over the line, Joel Hinchcliffe converting.
Birmingham & Solihull hit back immediately however and a clever kick saw Dai Evans find some space down the right to score, with the conversion levelling the scores after 15 minutes.
Birmingham & Solihull now found themselves on top and scored again within seven minutes, Rob Connolly getting the ball over the line after a spell of prolonged pressure.
Huddersfield responded well and a swift move saw Charlie Martin release the speedy Nick Rawsthorne to jink past a challenge and score.
However, the game was swinging each way and Birmingham & Solihull yet again came back strongly with another long scramble seeing Chris Goddard score, with the missed conversion seeing the sides would go into half-time with the score at 19-14 in Birmingham & Solihull’s favour.
Huddersfield came out of the break looking to get back in control of the play and edged the first ten minutes, with a couple of promising attacks down the right-hand side being quelled by the opposition defence.
Birmingham & Solihull held firm and eventually got their reward in the 60th minute when Adam Cannings converted a penalty to increase the lead.
Huddersfield won a penalty three minutes later but Joel Hinchcliffe narrowly missed after his kicking had been superb all afternoon.
From then Birmingham & Solihull were content to run the clock down and frustrate Huddersfield who struggled to create any meaningful spells of pressure.
A scoreless final 20 minutes saw Birmingham & Solihull reach the finish line after an impressively professional performance and Huddersfield with work to do ahead of next week’s trip to Preston Grasshoppers.
Huddersfield:
Rawsthorne, Hodgson, Martin, Owen, Clark, Bell, Hinchcliffe, Battye, Walker H, Sanderson, Thompson, Rhodes, Malthouse, Hoyle, Sharpe
Subs: Brown, Jeffrey, Lewis, Thornton, Purcell
Birmingham & Solihull:
Petty, Evans, Oliver, Connolly, Smith, Canning, Jolly, Bingham, Crane, Kociot, Dalres, Goddard, Forder, Scriven, Stephens
Subs: Boxce, Pinch, Dunne, Williams, Giles
