Dubbed as the biggest game in the club's history, Wetherby travelled to the Wirral to face Wallasey on the back of a tough draw against Goole the week before. Some frank discussions and tough decisions this week saw two intense training sessions and the selection of a very strong squad to cross the Pennines. Wetherby arrived at Wallasey in good time and looked sharp in the warm up but were anticipating a physical contest as they looked over at a big Wallasey side.

Wallasey kicked off and after a scrappy attempt to secure the ball the home team had a put in to the scrum. The Wetherby pack weren't at their best against Goole seven days earlier and reintroduced Bradley Mason and Steve Hoather into the starting line-up to rejoin Elliot Lloyd Kinsey Griffiths in the dream team. The change was instant as the 'fat-but-functional' front row piled the pressure on the home pack.

Wetherby controlled the early periods with strong carries from the forwards led by ruck inspector Tom Bottomley and Mattie Chappel. The instruction was to arrive pre-game in track suits, which Mattie took to mean his best 90s P.E teacher clobber as he styled skin tight, Lycra trousers and wayfarers. Anything to take the attention off the ears, ey Matthew?

Early pressure turned into points as Wetherby battered both in attack and defence and bought two penalties. Grange park's golden boy Conor Sheridan missed on his first attempt but succeeded with a simpler second kick. 0-3.

Wetherby carried on playing with pace and accuracy and continued to ask questions of an organised Wallasey defence. Every scrum the home team had was being won against the head thanks to huge pressure from the Wetherby front five and smart hooking by Hoather. After recent struggles in the line-out, they also seemed a distant memory as the real Jim shady, James Greenwood stopped the scouse opposition from stealing any line-outs,and provided good first phase ball for the backs.

Wetherby threatened the line despite the irritating, high pitched moaning coming from the opposition as the game sounded more like an episode of brookside than a game of rugby. They even had Sinbad playing tight-head.
A knock-on close to the Wallasey line gave the home team a scrum on their own five metre line. The ball was again hooked back on the Wetherby side and as the pressure came on the home side capitulated like Myles Oates' social life when he got a girlfriend. There's now just a big thumb mark on his lumpy forehead.
Much to the surprise of everyone at the ground the referee awarded a penalty try for the collapsed scrum. 0-10.

Wallasey looked to hit back and after a poor attempt to clear their lines Wetherby surrendered possession and allowed the opposition to hammer their giant centres into the Wetherby line. Nick Oates attempted to snipe in defence and was adjudged to have deliberately slowed the ball down and was sent to the bin for ten minutes.
The resulting penalty was converted. 3-10.

Wetherby continued to play with tempo even with a man short and with nothing on Conor Sheridan came up with something special. He kicked ahead and turned the opposition fullback, chasing the kick well. Conor rucked over the ball and won a penalty. It was taken quickly and as the ball was shipped wide second row Tom Bottomley found himself on the wing (for a change) before off-loading to Andrew Trotman to run in an unconverted try to end the half. Half-time: 3-15.

The first try after half time came off the back of a good kick and chase by Harry Kaye. If the chase of his new fancy piece was that simple, I'd have missed the desperate cries for help all the way back up the m62 on Saturday night. Still, unlike your brother, at least you've got a bird Harry.
Harry's pressure allowed the Wetherby backs space to set Andrew Trotman down the left wing for his second try, with a finish that showed why he is the best left winger at the club! 3-20.

The Wetherby set piece continued to pose threats to the Merseysiders and was the platform for Wetherby's fourth try. A neat change of direction off the back of a scrum gave Conor Sheridan space to cut through the defence and set Andrew Trotman free for a well deserved hat-trick. When we have a proper winger, we score tries!! 3-25.

Wallasey responded with more intent than they showed at any point in the first half but were consistently met by a Wetherby back-row boasting the iceberg Rob Adair and Horrid Henry look-a-like George Gilbert alongside Jim shady.
A rare Wetherby error allowed the home side to kick to the corner and a well worked maul helped them drive over for a try that threatened to bring them back into the game. 8-25.

In a game that was clearly a level higher than Wetherby ordinarily play, Wetherby's all round play was superb. The introduction of potion-master Will Cayton and the human plough AJ Hills brought more physicality into the pack as Wallasey tried a route one approach. The harder they tried, the harder the hits came. Even the incessant whining started to fade down as they ran out of breath.

The game started to fizzle towards its climax but there were hairy moments as Conor Sheridan and Danny Warden threw horror passes to leave team mates in trouble. Danny must have been on a game show the day before as he seemed to have a pair of those giant foam hands on. Either that or he's got lettuce leaves for wrists. Fortunately when he did catch the ball his giant club foot was working well.
The game threatened to have one final twist as Barney Roberts was sin binned for not rolling away but the Wetherby Express rolled on until the last minute.

The final whistle blew and ensured Wetherby stepped into the national cup semi final on the back of an impressive victory against a determined Wallasey side. The only downside being that the next step is the Midlands. The only accent worse than the scouse one!

MoM: Rob Adair - with all the subtlety of Harry Kaye getting a selfie with his brothers one-night stand, he showed his quality when he stops pretending to be a centre.

DoD: Bradley Mason - even after being fuelled with a discounted Burger King and a stolen Krispy Kreme, he still provided the biggest drama of the day when he couldn't find his phone. That guy is a bizarre cocktail of hormones sometimes.