Wigton comfortable winners at The Playground

Wigton travelled the short distance to Whitehaven and returned with a comfortable 24-10 victory.

Although the pitch was still heavy, it was a bright, clear day and Wigton were dominant throughout and in terms of possession should really have scored a bonus point try. An early infringement by a Whitehaven player gave Dan Reed a straightforward penalty which just scraped over the posts to give the visitors a 3-0 lead on 10 minutes.

Constant pressure by the Wigton forwards and domination in the scrum resulted in the first try of the game with David Hanabury racing under the posts, easily converted by Dan Reed to extend the Wigton lead to 10-0. On 35 minutes Whitehaven clawed their way into the game with a penalty reducing the arrears to 10-3. Just before half time, the Whitehaven backs knocked on and Richard Moffatt picked up the loose ball inside his own half to race clear and with no defenders in sight and a simple try under the posts which Dan Reed converted to give Wigton a 17-3 half time lead.

Within 2 minutes of the restart Ryan Clark found a gap in the defence and charged clear to score Wigtons 3rd try, Dan Reed converted and the lead was increased to 24-3. Wigton were now pushing forward at every opportunity seeking a bonus point try with a series of rolling mauls but were either held up by a firm Whitehaven defence or lost control of the ball and the chances slipped away. To Whitehavens credit they continued to disrupt Wigtons play and on 76 minutes their efforts were rewarded with a converted try leaving the final result 24-10 to Wigton.

The travelling supporters awarded M O M to Dan Reed who just shaded it from Richard Jackson; both did a 'split 40 shift' - Dan at 9/15 and Richard 2/7. Great also to see our front row resources developing with impressive contributions from youngsters Ryan Wannop and Alex Johnston.