Wigton denied victory at Fleetwood by last minute penalty

Wigton started strongly winning an early penalty at the scrum. Robert Marrs suffered a neck injury on 14 minutes and was replaced by Mark Deans. A great move along the backs brought Wigton the first try in the corner touched down by winger Aron Henderson, a difficult conversion by Gregg Smith flew straight between the posts to give Wigton a 7-0 lead on 17 minutes.

An infringement by Fleetwood allowed Gregg Smith to extend Wigtons lead to 10-0 with a penalty on 25 minutes. Wigton continued to press forward and a rolling maul looked as though another try was on the cards but the ball was lost and the opportunity lost. On 38 minutes Wigton had the put in at a scrum in the Fleetwood 22 but the ball was lost, the Fleetwood backs collected the ball and following a mazy run and good follow up play Fleetwood scored their try having carried the ball a full 80 metres. The conversion was straightforward and the deficit was reduced to 10-7.

Fleetwood were given an opportunity to level the score right on half time with a penalty, but the kick was missed and the half time whistle was blown.

The second half began with Robert Marrs returning to the field to replace Matt Corrigan. Fleetwood were trying hard to get back on terms but the referee awarded Wigton two penalties in quick succession but unfortunately both kicks were missed. However, on 57 minutes Owen Bonney scored Wigtons second try in the corner, a great conversion by Gregg Smith gave Wigton a 17-7 lead.

Following a bit of fisticuffs on 61 minutes, the referee showed a yellow card to Lindsay Walker and a Fleetwood player. Fleetwood were getting much more of the ball and looking threatening and their persistence resulted in a good try in the corner, duly converted to bring themselves back into the game at 17-14. It looked as though Wigton would hold onto their lead and with only a couple of minutes left on the clock, a penalty kick to the corner gave Wigton a line out. The referee decided that the Wigton throw in was not straight giving Fleetwood the ball which they carried downfield and following a ruck a Wigton player came away with the ball only for the referee to penalise Wigton and award Fleetwood a penalty directly in front of the posts.

This was to be the last play of the match and Fleetwood opted for the kick which went straight between the posts to give the home side 3 points and the game finished 17-17. This was a tremendous performance by Wigton against the league leaders and bodes well for the rest of the season. The travelling supporters selected Jamie Warwick as Wigtons man of the match.