Wigton denied victory in final play

A huge crowd welcomed both teams onto the pitch, the Wigton team being led out by Robert Marrs who was to make his 250th appearance for the club.

Wigton started the liveliest of the two sides and a good break after only 3 minutes brought an offside infringement by the visitors and Ryan Clark made no mistake with the penalty giving Wigton a 3 nil lead. A strong scrum on 11 minutes allowed Matt Corrigan to break the Aspatria defence only to be stopped by a high tackle, inside the Aspatria half, Clark converted the penalty and the Wigton lead had doubled to 6-0.

Aspatria were now seeing plenty of the ball and a high tackle gave them a chance to get back into the game, surprisingly Jack Clegg missed the penalty. However, on 25 minutes Aspatria kicked a penalty into the corner, the line out was claimed and the Wigton defence was caught napping as one of Aspatria forwards found space on the blind side to bring the first try of the game, Clegg kicked the conversion and Aspatria held a slender 7-6 lead.

Wigton hit back and opted for a scrum on the 10 metre line, the scrum was won and the forwards pushed forward with a series of pick and goes before Kevin Robinson touched down for Wigtons first try, Clark converted and Wigton led 13-7 on 31 minutes. Aspatria fought back and were awarded a penalty on the stroke of half time which Clegg converted and as the half time whistle was blown the gap had closed to 13-10.

Wigton brought on Marrs and Walker at half time but it was Aspatria who were given the chance to even up the score after a high tackle on 41 minutes. Clegg converted the penalty to level at 13-13. It was now Wigtons turn to push forward and with the visitors conceding a number of penalties in their own 22m, firstly Stuart Creighton was deemed to have been held up over the line, but the referee had already awarded another penalty and from the resultant scrum Creighton picked up the ball at the base and offloaded to Fergus Ledingham who touched down in the corner for Wigtons second try, the conversion was missed but Wigton were back in front and led 18-13.

It was now Aspatrias turn to put Wigton under pressure and a penalty allowed them to reduce the arrears to 18-16. Another offside infringement by Aspatria gave Wigton a chance to increase their lead but Clark missed the penalty. Wigton were now looking to see out the game and as the forwards appeared to be in control of a rolling maul, the ball was snatched away, an infringement by a Wigton player gave Aspatria a penalty and a chance to for kick for the corner.

Following the maul Wigton's Lindsay Walker remained motionless on the ground with what looked like a serious injury and quick thinking by one of the Aspatria forwards brought the injury to the referees attention and the game was held up while Lindsay received attention. Aspatria now sensed victory and only a brilliant tackle by Ryan Clark on the line prevented Aspatria scoring a match winning try. Aspatria secured the scrum and Clegg attempted 2 drop goals which were both unsuccessful.

On the second attempt the ball was close to the in goal line as Fergus Ledingham touched down and a 22 drop out was awarded. The ball was claimed by Aspatria and the ball was moved quickly across the pitch and as the Wigton defence became outnumbered, the Aspatria attacker touched down for the winning try, the Aspatria players were jubilant and the conversion gave a final score of 23-18 to the visitors.

It was a hard fought game and the Wigton players can justifiably claim they were unlucky to lose on the last play but Aspatrias perseverance paid off and snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat.

The day's sponsors - Wigton 'Elite Farmers' - awarded the Man of the Match Award to centre Richard Moffat.