Wigton continue their winning streak with a hard fought victory at Silloth

Wigton returned from Silloth with maximum points following a strong performance against a determined Silloth side.

Despite Wigtons early possession, Silloth scored the first points when a long kick into the Wigton half saw the ball bounce awkwardly and evade the Wigton defence with the fast running Silloth backs picking up the ball and spreading it across to their speedy winger who raced thorough to score behind the posts to give the hosts an 7 nil lead after only 3 minutes.

On 13 minutes Ollie Lewis suffered what looked to be a no arms tackle and was flattened on the ground but the referee waved played on, Lewis was taken off the field to recover but he did return later in the game. His replacement David Miller was on the end of some good ball control by Wigton as he touched down in the corner, Josh Leeson converted to level the score. The Wigton pressure was starting to tell and Silloth were penalised in front of the posts, giving Leeson a straightforward penalty to give Wigton a 10-7 lead.

However on 33 minutes Silloth used their backs to good effect again as their winger barged through the Wigton tacklers to score an unconverted try and regain the lead 12-10. Strong forward play by Wigton allowed Fergus Ledingham to evade the Silloth defence and cross the line for Wigtons 2nd try, although the conversion missed Wigton held 15-12 half time lead.

Wigton took early control in the 2nd half and the Silloth defence were starting to concede too many penalties for infringements which Wigton took advantage of with Fraser Ledingham returning to the side after a serious injury to score Wigtons third try converted by Leeson to extend the lead to 22-12. However on 53 minutes the Wigton line out fell asleep as Silloth took a short throw to the front of the line and the catcher had an easy run to the line to reduce the deficit to 17-22. That was as good as it got for Silloth as Wigtons forwards took command before Fergus Ledingham found a gap in the defence to cross for Wigtons bonus point try converted by Leeson for a 29-17 advantage.

The Silloth defence was getting desperate and infringing too may times until the referee finally issued a yellow card. Wigton continued to dominate and following a great series of passing play Josh Nicholson touched down for Wigtons 5th try on 69 minutes. Shortly afterwards the Wigtons forwards tied in the Silloth defence creating a huge overlap which the Wigton backs took advantage of with Elliot Armstrong appearing on the wing to dive over for Wigtons 6th and final try to run out deserved winners 39-17.

After a sticky start, Wigton never looked in any danger and the whole team fully deserved the victory against a tough Silloth team.