Glossop dump Market Rasen and Louth RFC dumped out of NLD Cup

The early signs were promising as both sides vied with each other to gain an upper hand, and Rasen struck first following a penalty for Jake Gibson’s high tackle on Rasen full-back Adam Goodwin.

From the ensuing lineout Rasen drove forward before releasing the backs where Dan Robinson breached the first line of defence and offloaded to centre Josh White who dived over for a try on his first team debut.

Robinson added the conversion, but no-one could have predicted the mayhem that was about to unfold.

After a delay for Harry Wallis’ head injury, Glossop returned to the attack and kept possession as Rasen’s wooden defence exerted little pressure and invited the visitors to run at them.

Nearing the Rasen line, fly-half Robert Sonczak nipped through a gap to touch down close to the posts before adding the conversion to level.

Four minutes later Rasen’s timid defence was no match for Jordon Simpson’s determined run as the flanker powered his way over, quickly followed by Sonczak’s simple conversion.

Worse followed as Rasen patiently worked their way towards halfway only to see their hard work undone by a careless pass, easily picked off by Jack Spensley who sprinted in under the posts.

After Sonczak slotted the conversion, Glossop were soon back on the attack as Rasen’s restart failed to travel 10 metres.

From the scrum reset Glossop poured forward and scrum-half Christopher Sonczak was stopped just short of the line, but Thomas Maltby took the pass and crashed over.

Rasen continued their trail of self-destruction when another poor pass was gleefully gathered by David Marchlewski to scorch in for Glossop’s second interception try.

Sonczak’s conversion capped 33 unanswered points in the space of 11 minutes to put the visitors 33-7 ahead at half-time.

Rasen came out hoping for a miraculous recovery in the second half, but the early stages were a dogfight with Glossop in no mood to surrender their big lead.

A long kick was chased up by Goodwin whose arrival put pressure on as Glossop’s defence struggled to find space to clear.

With the ball bobbling close to the line, scrum-half Mike Starling quickly gathered and dotted down.

The first dent in the deficit had been made, but Rasen were still struggling against determined opponents.

The Red and Greens changed tactics and spread the ball wide for Peter Everton to make a long run down the touchline. Play was brought back across to the other wing where Goodwin went agonisingly close, but knocked on.

Glossop’s earlier intensity was waning, but with the clock and a big lead in their favour, the onus was clearly on Rasen.

An enforced injury reshuffle pulled Dave Starling from the pack to the centre and his direct running began to cause problems in midfield where Glossop’s defence hadn’t previously been challenged enough.

Another concentration lapse gave Glossop possession and they worked the ball wide for Gibson who broke through more ineffectual tackling to breach the line and score in the corner.

With only six minutes left, Rasen scored straight from the restart when Everton, who had been largely redundant on the wing, sprinted down the touchline to score in the corner, superbly converted by Robinson.

By now Glossop knew they were through to the next round and it caused them no distress when quick hands in the backline put Everton away for his second try. Too little, too late.

Rasen: C. Starling, Alldridge, Haig, Chamberlin, Inman (Crowe), Mills, Grant, D. Starling, M. Starling, Robinson, P. Everton, White, Wallis (Gutteridge), Stephens (Southwell), Goodwin.

* On Saturday, Rasen travel to Paviors who have also started the season slowly and sit just two places higher.