Wigton lose thrilling contest to a last minute Oldham try

The Oldham kick off was fumbled by the Wigton catcher and the ensuing scrum led to a penalty which Oldham kicked to the corner. From the line out, a well practised blind side move brought the first try and the hosts led 5-0 after only 1 minute. Oldham continued to press and their influential stand off kicked the ball deep into the massively wide in goal area for the winger to score an unconverted try and the score was increased to10-0 on 6 minutes.

Wigton were gaining a foothold in the game and although one penalty was missed Gregg Smith kicked the next between the posts and the arrears were reduced to 10-3. Immediately afterwards the Wigton defence was caught offside and Oldham kicked the penalty to lead 13-3. The Wigton backs were now seeing much more of the ball and on a couple of occasions were forced into touch within sight of the line. Richard Moffat suffered a injury and left the field to be replaced by Owen Bonney. On 37 minutes WIgton kicked a penalty into the corner, the line out was clean and the forwards drove over the line with Andrew Brown touching down, Smith kicked the conversion and Wigton were back in the game at 13-10. However this was short lived and in first half injury time Oldham extended their lead to 16-10 with a penalty.

Wigton began the second half much livelier and with some great passing play between the backs, David Hanabury offloaded to Gregg Smith who touched down under the posts, Smith scored the conversion and for the first time in the game Wigton led 17-16. However, this spurred Oldham on and an infringement for not releasing the ball gave Oldham an easy penalty to regain the lead at 19-17. The WIgton defence was now under constant pressure conceding a number of penalties but they tackled well and a penalty in their favour brought some respite. Dan Cozens was brought on to replace the injured Ollie Lewis and to bolster the tiring pack. Oldham infringed in midfield and Wigton were awarded a penalty which the referee moved on a further 10 yards giving Smith a great chance to put Wigton ahead again, which he duly did and the score was 20-19 in Wigtons favour.

Oldham however stormed straight back at the WIgton defence and from another infringement the referee showed a yellow card to Andrew Brown with only 10 minutes to go. The penalty was converted and Oldham led 22-20. Oldham seized their opportunity by kicking another penalty into the corner, the line out was won, the ball went wide and a try was scored in the corner to give Oldham a lead of 27-20. Despite being down to 14 men, Wigton continued to play rugby and a long kick deep into the Oldham half was knocked on by the full back. Wigton won their own scrum and with some great passes amongst the backs and forwards Kevin Robinson touched down, Smith kicked the conversion and the score was level at 27-27 with only 2 minutes to play.

Wigton won the restart but were penalised for an infringement giving Oldham the initiative. The penalty was kicked into touch, the line out which never failed them all afternoon was cleanly won and the ball was moved at speed along the backs for the winger to score a great bonus point try in the corner. Although the conversion was missed Oldham had snatched a victory 32-27 to the disappointment of the Wigton players and supporters.

Footnote: With 9 changes from last week's squad, the lads played well after a poor start and a draw would have been a fair result