1st Team reports (where info provided)

Date	Team	Score	Report
04/10/2008	Harbourne	L 7-17	The 2nd league game of the season game with its own problems when the 'original' home ground was not available. A few frantic phone calls and Gnosall Sports & Social came to the rescue. What happened in the game is anyone's guess. Anyone?
27/09/2008	Warley	L 19-10	Anyone?
20/09/2008	Newport II	W 46-26	After a slow start to the season, Eccleshall travelled the short distance to neighbours Newport with high hopes and that is just what we got. Making a good start through combined forwards and backs work, an early try was scored very quickly followed by a second. This however led to a little complacency with Eccleshall relaxing and allowing Newport back into the game. Two tries each at half time. A stern half time team talk resulted in renewed confidence and a determination to rectify the mistakes. The result was also instantaneous with try after try being piled on. In fact a further 6 with Newport responding with 2 more (one right on the final whistle). The Eccleshall scorers were Dave Evans (3) on his 1st team debut, Paul Firth (2), Amir Khan, Sam Ward and Alan Bishton. Nial Keating converted 3. An excellent performance which now needs to be transferred to the forthcoming league matches.
13/09/2008	Telford	L 38-23	This was the first league game of the season and the lack of structured training in the closed season really showed. Tackling was generally poor, fitness was lacking and simple moves just didn't work. Steffen Brotherton worked overtime covering most of the park whilst new coach Steve Dolphin scored one of the tries. It is not all bad news. There is a lot of the season left, the new coach - only appointed last week - was able to see what areas needed to be worked upon and the influx of new players will mean that there is now a competition for 1st team places not just a right.
06/09/2008	St Leonards	L 15-10	This was only a friendly but it was a local debry match and stakes were high. Whilst Eccleshall had a squad of 18-19, St Leonards seemed to have a a few more - at one stage bringing on 6 subs at once. Despite this, the game was fairly evenly matched with Sam Christmas and Mickie Carr scoring for Eccleshall. This early in the season special mention goes to Dan Woodcock for an all round performance and James Stewart for putting in some heavy tackles. We meet St Leonards later in the year in league fixtures and can look forward to some healthly competition.