Hard fought home win

As the injuries and unavailabilities mount, one of Wigton's key problems lies in trying to get the same, or nearly the same, team on the field for two weeks in a row. Today's game was a case in point, with a raft of changes from last week's match at Carlisle. Not surprisingly, this resulted in a performance somewhat lacking in coherence.

Workington, particularly in the first half, played with a commitment which belied their lowly league position. They enjoyed a good period of pressure in the Wigton 22 early on. However, the Wigton defence held firm and Workington seemed frustrated by their ability to break the line. The upshot was a rathe speculative chip and chase which Wigton's fly half Gregg Smith was able to reach first to touch the ball down in goal.

Wigton's first attack stemmed from an elusive run by full back Ryan Clark who ran back a loose clearance kick with interest. The upshot was a first penalty chance for Gregg Smith, which he duly took to give Wigton an early 3-0 lead. It was not long before a penalty for the tackler not rolling away gave Zebras centre Kieran Mewse the chance to level the scores at 3-3. The handling on display was not always crisp and precise, but with Smith and Mewse both striking the ball well, the goal kicking was of a good standard.

Mewse pushed the visitors into a 3-6 lead when they were given a penalty in their own 22. Workington showed good alertness, taking a quick tap and soon Wigton were penalised in their own 22 giving Mewse an easy shot at goal.

Both sides were having their fair share of possession, but failed to achieve the continuity to build pressure and most of the play in the first quarter was between the 22 metre lines. One thing going well for Wigton in the first half was the set scrums where they exerted pressure on the Workington ball. One such incident saw Wigton win the ball and then receive a penalty. This was kicked into the Workington 22. Doing the afternoon, when Wigton caught the ball at the line they were able to make impressive ground with catch and drives. This was one such episode. The ball was caught and as the drive gathered momentum, No 8 Stuart Creighton broke away to score. Smith's conversion gave Wigton a 10-6 lead.

Far from allowing Wigton to settle things down, this score seemed to push Workington to up their effort and they had the better of the rest of the half. A promising situation for the visitors when they had the throw into a line deep in the Wigton 22 was defused when flanker Andy Brown took a great catch at the back of the line. However, Workington continued to press and Mewse made the score 10-9 when he converted a penalty given for a dangerous tackle.

The next period of pressure for Workington came to a frustrating conclusion for them with a knock on only five yards from Wigton's try line. The next score saw Wigton win the ball at a Workington ruck. The counter ruck pushed Zebras off the ball in text book fashion, but as the ball emerged no one remembered to pick it up, allowing a Workington player to come round and reclaim it. Fly half John Chisnall got behind the defence with a strong, elusive run and as he was tackled he was able to offload to back row forward Chris Boyd who crashed over in the left hand corner. An outstanding conversion from Mewse gave Zebras a 10-16 advantage at half time.

To be fair, on the balance of play no one could say the lead was not deserved and they must have harboured hopes of an upset. However, they were kept scoreless in the second half whilst Wigton scored 21 points, although the overall balance of play was not quite as decisive as the scoreboard suggested.

Undoubtedly Wigton showed more application in the second half. The welcome return of Peter Dobson added some vigour and directness whilst in the last twenty minutes, Coach Mark Lee, frustrated by his inability to influence events from the touchline, became Player-Coach Mark Lee as he took a more direct hand in proceedings.

Two penalties from Smith, one an impressive forty yard effort, levelled the scoreboard at 16-16. Following a total mess up at the base of Wigton's scrum, Mewse had a chance to add to Workington's total, but rather surprisingly, missed.

With the scores level Workington kicked off. Second Robert Marrs caught the kick and made ground up field. With good, quick ball, Smith produced a long, raking kick to push Workington back into their own 22. Centre Stephen Harris and winger Josh Leeson showed the importance of following up kicks. As the defenders tried to run out of defence, Leeson made a good tackle and the ball hit the deck. Harris got his toe to the ball and was able to dribble it over the line to score. Smith had a straightforward conversion to give Wigton a 23-16 lead.

It's renewed confidence, Wigton's next attack showed a good build up as purposeful running and good support play made deep inroads. With a three man overlap and the line wide open, Smith's tryscoring pass hit the turf. This seemed to sum up Wigton's afternoon with this piece of poor play from someone who was possibly Wigton's best player of the day. However, the referee brought play back for an earlier penalty offence, enabling Smith to give Wigton a 26-16 lead.

Workington had several attempts to add to their score but Wigton's defence held firm. In turn Wigton had a great chance to add to their haul of points when a penalty set up a lineout on Workington's five metre line. Given the impressive ground Wigton had made with catch and drives from lineouts during the afternoon, this was promising position. Unfortunately, the throw failed to end up in the hands of a Wigton jumper.

From much further out Wigton made amends by winning a ball on Workington's throw. The forwards made a lot of ground, eventually winning a penalty on the five metre line. Wigton set up a driving maul and Stuart Creighton claimed his second try of the day. Smith was just off target with his hardest kick of the day. This made the score 31-16, which remained the case until the final whistle.

Although this was not a classic performance there was a degree of honest endeavour and some encouraging signs. Gregg Smith filling in at fly half had a hand in most positive things and Andy Brown was a real handful for Workington at the breakdown, winning some valuable breakdowns. Ryan Clark showed good pace on his return to first team action, whilst Josh Leeson emerged with plenty of positives.

Next week we pop along the road to Aspatria, doubtless hoping for one or two (or more) players returning to action. This encounter could have great influence on the way things shape up at the end of the season and we will be aiming to ensure that following their reverse at Upper Eden, Aspatria experience two reverses in a row.

Match day sponsors D A Harrison Ltd awarded flanker Andrew Brown the Man of the Match award.