Squad strength was again tested with Gregg Smith resting a shoulder injury and forwards Mark Deans, Mark Lee and Jay Henderson unavailable for various reasons. Into the squad came Richard Jackson, David Waning, returning from work commitments, and James Brough returning from early season injury. Late changes to the lineup saw Tane Manihera start at scrum half, Ali Ledingham at full back, brother Fergus on the wing and a new centre pairing of Richard Moffatt and David Percival.

The coaching staff had targeted improved set piece precision, crisper handling play and a reduction in penalties at the breakdown. All these were felt to be achieved to at least some degree, but a Blackburn defence which was resolute throughout, made the Greens work hard for their victory.

The home team had the first use of the strong breeze which blew throughout the afternoon, and forced an early attacking 5 metre scrum, much to the delight of the crowd. However, Wigton established scrum dominance from the outset, and a strong drive forced a turnover and lifted the danger.

Wigton then used the classic tactics for playing into the wind of close support, forward drives and good ball retention. Play was taken deep into the Blackburn 22, where from a line out Richard Jackson quickly hit his throwing rhythm, picking out skipper Matthew Atkinson to set up a driving maul. The ball was dotted down by Andrew Bell, the venerable King of the Driving Maul, and Ali Ledingham kicked an excellent wide conversion for a 7-0 lead. The Jackson/Atkinson link was to be afternoon's predominant feature throughout the afternoon as was the kicking of Ledingham, with him landing four out of five kicks.

Blackburn's best efforts came from their half-backs Sean Hall and rugby league convert Leon Fiddien, whose intelligent use of limited possession kept Blackburn in the game in the first half. Wigton's forwards, particularly locks Marrs and Dobson, were responsible for a lot of hard yards into the breeze, eating into the clock and denying the home side possession to use the elements. Story and Dobson also worked industriously at the breakdowns and produced several turnovers. Miller, Moffatt and Manihera all went close to scoring for Wigton, but the final pass lacked the precision to bring about a score.

Blackburn's only reward for first use of the wind was a penalty from Fiddien on the half hour mark. The score remained 3-7 at half time.

On the second half Wigton's forward dominance and some very effective kicking from Ali Ledingham ensured that Wigton enjoyed territorial superiority. Several of Ledingham's kicks took play from one 22 to the other. A very effective chase from the visitors meant that Blackburn were restricted to only a couple of forays into the Wigton 22 for the whole of the second half. Only imprecision with handling limited Wigton to two further tries as good use of interchanges kept the forwards in particular, fresh.

Wigton stretched their lead very early on when an excellent turnover by Dobson set up good field position from where Blackburn offended and Ledingham landed a penalty. Shortly afterwards the powerful Marrs carried for forty metres, finding the rapidly progressing Miller in support. He made a smart offload to Manihera who was able to bustle his way over the line for a try converted by Ledingham. The scoreline was 3-17.

Blackburn, prompted by player coach Chris Lowden and their man of the match Sean Hall, dug in to try and deny the visitors further scores and a bonus point. Despite taking a pummelling in the scrums, Lowden urged his players on as they produced a defensive stint full of character and pride.

Only in the 76th minute was Atkinson, enjoying a fine game at No 8, able to add another try, again converted by Ledingham. He picked up the sponsor's Man of the Match award for an assured performance at full back. The travelling supporters, in their award, gave recognition to a display of purpose and energy from John Story in the back row.

This tricky fixture out of the way, Coach Brown and his advisors will now be turning their attention to next week's visit of Eccles, who could be our most serious opposition to date. I am sure we will not be lulled into any false sense of security by their surprise losses in the last two weeks. They will come to Lowmoor Road with a point to prove and the rest of the league will be hoping desperately for someone to slow down the Wigton express. Even at this early stage in the season, other results have meant that our nearest rivals have lost three out of eight games so we can expect other teams to raise their games before it is too late to close the gap.

The coaching team would be delighted to finish the game yesterday with no further injuries. Several players who have been unavailable, mainly through injury, will be returning to training this week, some having had run outs for the Wanderers. Midweek training will be interesting to say the least as the coaching staff face the most preferable of selection dilemmas; having more quality players than places to fill!