Lymm 20 Macclesfield 7

LYMM are through to the semi final of the Cheshire Cup after a shock 20-7 last eight victory over Macclesfield on Saturday.

The League Three North side expected a tough encounter when they faced Macclesfield, who are currently two divisions above in the National One League.

Macclesfield chose to rest some first team players and fielded a younger looking side which was soon caught off guard when Joe Knowles brought about the breakthrough for Lymm.

The fly-half orchestrated his back division superbly and was rewarded with an unconverted try by centre Tom Bray following slick inter-play between forwards and backs.

A penalty shortly afterwards from full back Cormac Nolan gave the home side an 8-0 lead.

Captain and second row Sion Williams put in a forceful shift alongside his engine room partner Tom Darbyshire who both had the edge over their younger counterparts.

The pair kept up the intensity throughout and Williams was rewarded for his efforts early in the second half when he went over for an unconverted team try to turn their lead into 13-0.

In a rare foray into the Lymm 22 the visitors eventually got some points on the board with a well taken converted try.

Lymm could have been made to rue their missed chances after Nolan, who has more than a 70 per cent success rate with his kicking, uncharacteristically skewed a further two easy penalty kicks to put daylight between the teams.

However, Adam Bray finished off the game when he eventually crossed the line in the last action of the match, much to the relief of the home supporters, before Nolan duly converted.

Lymm’s new head coach Adam Fletcher was delighted with the cup win at the start of the season and said it sets his side up to tackle the league from the off.

“It was good to win the match as this sets us up for our first league match on Saturday,” Fletcher said.

“We will start with confidence and the depth of the squad gives me some real selection problems.”

Lymm: Reay, White, Ashton, Williams, Darbyshire, Mullarkey, Ashall, A Bray, Baker, Knowles, Wells, Boaden, T Bray, McEvoy, Nolan. Subs: Yates, Williams, G Boaden, J Cooper, C Harris.