On the back of 2 heavy defeats, Stockport 3's made the short trip over to face Macclesfield 3's looking to improve on their most recent performance whilst trying to secure their first victory of the season. With no 4th XV game, Stockport were able to reunite their 1980's club stalwarts of Chris Weeks, Dave Holehouse and Colin Nevett as well as giving a start to wing Conor Osbiston, the Rolls Royce that is Myles Mason at full back and a senior debut to scrum half Toby Piatt. With injuries still affecting the squad, the latest hammer blow was the news that centre Brad Pearson confirmed he had done his ACL however have no fear, because due to his overly muscular and epic thighs his knee was being held in place like a girder!!! However, the squad did welcome back the self-proclaimed messiah, centre Aaron Hussain who brought his usual energy and enthusiasm as well as cheering up his mate and our new resident misery Duncan 'Crowd Pleaser' Hedar.

Skipper Mel McCaughey turned up in his loud, brash, massive 4x4 jeep which was needed to carry all the kit, such a manly vehicle we all wished we owned one until we found out it actually belongs to his wife Rebecca (who's wearing the trousers there we ask)????? Having won the toss, he opted to kick off and the ball was given to Mason as without Messrs Warhurst Junior and Morgan the team have completely struggled for a decent kicker. Warhurst junior was actually in attendance and unable to play due to injury, Morgan was not in attendance but was also unable to play due to it being his girlfriend Jenny's birthday (oh and her dad's as well) so he had a day of celebrating planned (and no, not celebrating with us)!!! It was important that we continued to learn lessons from every game which this week was to calm down, be patient, tackle and not give the hosts a head start. It seemed as though this message had sunk in as from the off, the defence was exceptional and despite a few nervy moments the Stockport line held firm. It was Stockport with the first opportunity of points however a penalty goal was pulled wide by Mason (this seemed to be catching as we'll read later) and the deadlock was eventually broken as the home side struck over a penalty of their own to take a 3-0 lead. It was clear how vital this win was to both teams and the amount of ball in play time was off the scale. Macclesfield then launched another attack however a misplaced pass led to a dropped ball with the Messiah being the first to react and he kicked ahead with no one at home. He was then miraculously overtaken by lock Chris 'Dizzy' Dodd who was clearly 'sniffing' out the opportunity to score and that he did, as he beat Hussain to the ball by a 'nose' to give Stockport a 5-3 lead. Again Macclesfield came back into the game and managed an unconverted try of their own giving them an 8-5 lead they took into the half time break.

Half time was considered and again, the ask was for calmness and patience as they needed to go through the phases and put the home side under the cosh. To add some ballast to the pack, Nevett and Dom Waterhouse were introduced and the second half got underway. Macclesfield were now in the ascendency as every time Stockport got a territorial foothold, it was followed by a mistake or penalty to relieve the pressure. Stockport were again struggling in the kicking department which saw Mason, Hussain, flanker Tom Mounkley and Piatt all have a go at making (and usually failing) to find touch and all this did was increase the pressure on the visitors. This pressure eventually told as the home side scored a converted try taking them to a 15-5 lead and now it was time to batten down the hatches and throw the proverbial kitchen sink at Macclesfield. Holehouse was introduced into the midfield whilst Paul Knowles replaced Osbiston on the wing whilst Mark Shiel came on to steady the scrum, replacing Jez Taylor at prop.

There were a few nervy moments including a breakaway from the Macclesfield winger who only had one man to beat for another try but was felled with a last ditch tackle like a cheetah (granted an old slow pathetic cheetah) taking out a springbok and it was still game on. Again Stockport refused to lie and came back with a try from happiness himself Hedar who by now was involved in the greatest of verbal exchanges with Macclesfield's doppleganger of Chris Astley however it was now 15-10 and all to play for. As always, the hard work was undone and penalties were now being given away by flanker Ben 'Hands Past The Ruck' Unwin and Mel 'No Arms' McCaughey so up stepped the Macc kicker (who was also the felled springbok from earlier) and his day went from bad to worse as he shanked an absolute sitter, leaving the score line in tact. McCaughey then redeemed himself as he made a break and freed his arms up to pass the ball onto supporting fly half Keith Warhurst who in turn fed onto Knowles who scorched down the touchline, skipped past his last man and danced in under the posts for a try converted by Mason to given Stockport a slender 15-17 lead. This was now like England in the 2003 World Cup Final (a final occurs if you can get through the quarters Mel) when all Stockport had to do was take the restart and go through the motions. Like England, the restart was claimed no problem however having ventured outside of the 22, the kick from Warhurst went straight into touch meaning a Macclesfield line out in the Stockport 22. It was now all hands to the pumps in defence and as the Macclesfield 10 sliced a drop goal, the game was surely over however the ref had seen McCaughey with his hands on the floor in a ruck and having penalised the skipper, the game was now in the balance with a penalty kick to win the game for the Macclesfield. Step forward our springbok friend who managed to slice another attempt and with the ball rolling over the dead ball line, the final whistle was blown to secure a first win of the season for the 3's.

There were a number of people in the running for MOTM including flanker Ben Unwin, full back (and Rolls Royce) Myles Mason and the Messiah Aaron Hussain however to play your first game of senior rugby in such a pressure cooker environment and to not bat an eyelid, the award goes to Toby Piatt.

Now on to DOTD and clearly this could (and should) have gone to Mr Morgan for the worst excuse ever supplied to miss a game of rugby.......or so you would think however our mate John Terry was back at it again. Not content with last week's exploits of showering after the game having not played, this week he flew to Berlin to be part of the Berlin Marathon that he clearly couldn't be a part of (3 weeks post ACL reconstruction surgery) but why let that stop you, rumours are he got a finishers medal as well!!!!! Step forward Daniel Cockersmith for your 2nd consecutive DOTD award