Greens nudge a tight contest!

Wigton continued with their good Home form by taking the win, 28-22, against Bolton in a close, open and entertaining match at Lowmoor Road.

The first few minutes saw both sides jockeying for position with neither entering the other team’s 22 metre area. A sweetly struck penalty from Ryan Clark opened Wigton’s account. It was not long afterwards that Wigton registered the game’s first try originating with a set play from a scrum.

Centre Brad Bouch combined with his co centre Richard Moffatt, giving a neat short pass which set Moffatt roaring through the Bolton backline defence. As he entered the 22 he was given good support from Clark to keep the move alive. The Bolton defence seemed to have covered back but Wigton were patient, keeping possession and probing the defence. Eventually scrum half Sam Harrison picked out second row Mark Deans who had a mismatch with a couple of smaller defenders opposite him and he crashed over the line in emphatic fashion. Clark’s conversion gave Wigton a 10-0 lead.

Wigton had chances to add to their lead when the restart failed to go ten metres. Good movement from the scrum with No 8 Greg Wrathall once again showing dynamic form, got them into the 22. This time the defence came out on top as Wigton were penalised for holding on in the tackle.

Bolton worked their way into Wigton’s 22 with good ball retention. Wigton’s forwards had done a lot of spectacular ball carrying but Bolton No 8 Niall Murphy showed he could be dangerous in open spaces too as he bumped off a couple of defenders and then passed to Rory Biggins on the right flank to finish off smartly. The game had a different complexion at 10-5.

Bolton prop Manny Tailor was caught offside to give Clark a chance to widen the lead. However the kick was on the limit of the full back’s range and the kick faded short to the left. Bolton opted to play their way out of defence but spilled the ball between their 22 and halfway. Wrathall picked up and made himself the focus of a maul as the Wigton backs realigned. When the ball was moved out flyhalf David Hanabury cut through the defence on an arcing run Feeding the ball to Moffatt who had the physicality to bustle over the line. Clark produced an excellent conversion from the left touchline to give Wigton a healthy looking halftime lead of 17-5.

Bolton started the second half in fine fettle, using a penalty to set up a lineout on Wigton’s five metre line. Wigton showed determined tackling in dealing with the runners and several were bundled back over the advantage line. Fly half Rhys Pritchard decided to try something different as he threaded a grubbed through the defence. As he followed through he bounced off the not inconsiderable presence of Wigton second row Robert Marrs. Marrs was less than impressed when this episode drew a yellow card from referee Martin Maughan. His absence was to prove costly.

First fullback Joe Speakman slotted the penalty kick to make the score 17-8. Wigton restarted with a deep kick. As the Wigton back three dropped back to cover the anticipated clearance Bolton spotted the opportunity to move the ball from just in front of their tryline. There was panic in the defence when Wigton realised what was happening. Bolton already had a clear overlap and their job was made easier by a missed tackle. Winger Kieran Shacklock was able to power his way over the line. Speakman added the extras and the score was now a tight 17-15.

A high tackle on halfway enabled Bolton to strike the penalty deep into Wigton’s 22. Again the Wigton defence were tackling robustly but were undone, ironically, by a poor pass which turned into a great play. A ball was passed out to Pritchard but it faded away from him sharply. The defence seemed to stop to see what happened next. What happened was that Pritchard pulled off a stupendous catch and half dived, half stumbled over the line for a try between the posts. Speakman’s conversion was a formality and the visitors now held a 17-22 lead.

Wigton continued to be dangerous and drove into Bolton’s 22 with a move which saw the strong running Deans make inroads twice and good ground also made by Moffatt. Unfortunately this move was terminated when Bolton pulled off a choke tackle to turn the ball over. On the plus side, Wigton got back to fifteen men as Marrs returned to the fray.

Wigton were soon on the attack again and a penalty in the 22 saw the referee run out of patience with defensive penalties and it was the turn of one of the Bolton forwards to see yellow. Clark took the points on offer to narrow the lead to 20-22. It was now Bolton’s turn to try and hang on with 14 men and they soon conceded another kickable penalty which Clark slotted for a 23-22 lead.

Having seen the havoc Deans was creating, Wigton made changes and opted to put him at centre. The new alignment was soon given a chance to operate as Bolton were in front of the kicker at the restart. Wigton had a scrum on halfway. Wrathall picked up and worked the big blindside linking with scrum half Dan Reed. The ball was recycled and moved back to the left hand side. Moffatt made a big break through the defence and Wigton had a clear overlap. Simple catching and passing put the ball in the hands of Deans who crossed for his second try. Clark was unable to add the conversion so at 28-22 the game was still wide open.

With the game in the balance and five minutes left Bolton were back to full strength but were unable to create any clear chances as the last few minutes were played out in midfield with Wigton finishing the game by holding up a ball carrier to force a turnover.

Wigton again showed their strength at home and put themselves in striking distance of the top three in this very open league. Next week will see if they can take their good form on the road with them as they travel to Trafford who, until today’s narrow loss to Keswick, had won six in a row.