Lichfield faced up to their old adversary Burton in a re-run of last season’s Staffordshire Cup Final – but it wasn’t to be a repeat of that day as the greens went down 22-17.
There were three changes to Lichfield’s match day 18. Chris Upton was handed a start in the second row, while prop forward Dan Taylor made a welcome return to the bench and Matt Brown replaced the injured George Cotterhill.
The home side made the brighter start in front of an expectant crowd at Cooke Fields. Blindside Richard Burton scored the game’s opening try after a powerful run through the heart of the away defence, giving Josh Massey the simplest of conversions.
Unfortunately, the 7-0 lead didn’t last long, Burton replying just eight minutes later with a well worked try out wide.
The first half, as a contest, was pretty forgettable, but Lichfield were able to extend their lead to five via a Massey penalty.
The excitement of the first 15 seconds of the second half eclipsed all that had come before it. Chris Upton collected the restart at pace, beat a few defenders and scored under the posts.
At 17-5 ahead, Lichfield were in charge. Gradually though, the away side were able to chip away at the lead. The hosts were not physical enough at the breakdown, and found no formula for stopping the driving maul.
Following an earlier penalty, Burton got the try they deserved on 58 minutes. Predictably it came from another rumbling driving maul, a boring but certainly effective tactic. Under increasing pressure, Lichfield finally surrendered their lead of 60 minutes with just 14 minutes to go. The try itself was dubious, but it was always coming.
The home side were unable to maintain any quality possession in the opposition half as the clock ran down. In truth, the game fizzled out without too many further problems for the visitors. The match ended 22-17, an extremely disappointing and potentially damaging defeat for the Myrtle Greens.
Lichfield are back in action next weekend at newly promoted Dunlop.
Lichfield: Sowden, Gabbitass, Bassett (c), Upton, Squire, Burton, Milner, Paulson; Evans, J Massey, Rowlands, Adams, G Massey, Brown, Smith. Subs: Taylor, Haber and Maxwell-Keys.