Big win against Littleborough!

The visitors have shown good recent form and have high hopes of contending for a playoff position, but before the game started were handicapped by travelling with only one replacement, whereas Wigton, with a full squad, were better able to rotate their forwards. Jordan Wood started on the wing whilst Fergus Ledingham returned to his favoured scrum half position. A policy of rotation saw forwards Andrew Bell and John Story start on the bench.

Wigton started brightly, reclaiming their own kickoff and put early pressure on the visitors' line. However, at this early stage they kept their defensive shape well and the chance was lost when Wigton were penalised for holding on. Littleborough showed promise from their first line out as they produced an impressive driving maul in midfield. However, the Wigton scrum had the edge in the early encounters. Scrum half Fergus Ledingham was looking particularly sharp round the fringes and made several early breaks.

After a penalty Wigton kicked for a line out deep in the Littleborough 22. They tried a catch and drive but this was frustrated by a penalty. From this, Wigton went through their well rehearsed driving maul routine which produced the first try from skipper Atkinson after 10 minutes. The conversion by Ali Ledingham was unsuccessful. 5-0.

Remarkably, Littleborough conceded no more penalties for the rest of the match. One explanation for this would be their excellent discipline. Wigton again, despite their dominance for much of the match, were caned in the penalty count, 12-3. Referee Mr Toole of Liverpool found the pace of play quite challenging and made many decisions from a distance.

Wigton shortly afterwards had the chance to go wide and use a big overlap, but centre Will Miller was given man and ball by his skipper's pass and the chance was lost.

The next key moment saw Littleborough kick a penalty for a line out to the Wigton five yard line. Given the potency of their earlier catch and drives, this was a distinctly promising position. However it was squandered by a poor throw. Indeed, Littleborough's erratic throwing at lines was to give them problems through the afternoon and hamstring their best offensive tactic. As it turned out, that was their best chance of the game gone. They never seriously threatened the Wigton line again till near the end, despite enjoying a fair amount of possession and territory, particularly in the first half. Wigton's efforts to rack up a big score were hampered sometimes by lack of precision in the pass, sometimes by penalties and sometimes by good last ditch defending.

Littleborough's cause was not helped when their scrum half ran into Deans and Atkinson in quick succession and had to leave with accidental facial injuries.

Wigton's second try was a beauty. Fergus Ledingham broke from a scrum and found Miller, who is improving with every match, running a great line. He made good ground and passed to the man in support, who was, of course, Lee, who anticipates these breaks brilliantly. It was then simple drawing of a man and passing to Hanabury and then Atkinson who galloped over for his second try with Wood in hopeful support. With no conversion, that made the score 10-0.

Steadily, inexorably, Wigton started to dominate. From the kick off Marrs and then Deans produced big runs. Indeed, one of the points of interest for Wigton supporters recently has been waiting to see which of these two produces the more devastating carries. Ali Ledingham put in one of his less productive grubbers which gave the visitors the chance to clear downfield. Miller conjured up a great run out of defence but the pass was knocked on by the supporting player. Nevertheless, Wigton took the scrum against the head and moved the ball right, giving Wood a run for the line. He was tackled short but the clearing kick was again run back. Fergus Ledingham found a gap round the fringes of a ruck. He seemed to be bound for the line but the ball jumped out of his hands. There was no respite for the visitors as they were turned over at the scrum, giving Wigton a put in near the line. No 8 Atkinson, with the scent of another hat-trick in his nostrils, picked up, ignored his scrum half in space, and was stopped short. However the ball was recycled and passed to Jay Henderson on the right flank for a third try and a 15-0 lead.

Unfortunately for Wigton, the half ended on a low note when Fergus Ledingham, who was enjoying a fine game, sustained an ankle injury whilst trying to run out of defence. The subsequent reshuffle found Lee at scrum half.

The second period started with a big run from Deans. Hanabury throughout the half used the wind well using his boot to take play into Littleborough's 22 from where they found it very half to break out. A well-weighted chip created a chance for Wood who was judged not to have got the touchdown. Wigton did not always make best use of possession as passes went to ground and there was some lateral running. To make matters worse, Miller was yellow-carded for preventing the ball being played, a decision which many regarded as contentious.

Littleborough found it a struggle to get out of their own half. They were wary of kicking into the wind and giving Wigton ball to counterattack. On the other hand, their scrum was under pressure and they difficulty throwing in straight at the lines. They made some optimistic attempts to run the ball from inside their own 22. Wigton's next try came from a turnover as the visitors tried to run from the base of a scrum. Lee picked up the loose ball and it was quickly moved left. Hanabury passed to Wood and then took the return pass to score. Ledingham added what was the hardest conversion so far to extend the lead to 22-0.

Wood had a chance shortly afterwards from a long kick by Hanabury. With luck the ball would have bounced into his hands, but instead it went back over his head. Nevertheless the move showed good vision and was a sensible option with the backs still a man short.

The next try saw the ball recycled through several phases with a tiring defence being moved first one way then another. The end result was a clear overlap and a fairly straightforward run in for John Story and a 27-0 lead.

As Miller returned to the fray, the Littleborough side were looking weary. There was an interesting event at the kick off when Marrs, looking to clatter the ball up at every opportunity, caught the ball. He may have been told by team mates to look for passes, so he passed......to no one. He then ran back to pick up his own pass and set off upfield in normal fashion.

Wigton's next try was their easiest as Littleborough dropped the ball about 8 metres from their own line. It was picked up and passed to Ledingham for the simplest of tries which he converted to make the score 34-0.

Littleborough were reduced to 14 men when their prop left the field with an injury. However this gave them some respite as the scrims became uncontested so at least they could win their own ball. Wigton's try came from such a scrum five metres out. Atkinson picked up, passed to Lee who offloaded the ball to full back Gregg Smith. Smith had had very little to do in defence but he stepped inside three defenders to cross for the Greens' seventh try. The score remained 39-0 till the end.

Littleborough had one last hurrah when a series of penalties let them enter the home 22 but the defence showed no signs of cracking. The final episode of the game saw Wigton run back a loose kick with a sweeping movement up the left side. Wood was only stopped from scoring by a last ditch tackle a couple of feet short. It is testimony to Littleborough that even at this late juncture they showed the commitment to stop a final try.

The sponsors, a group of our travelling fans, voted Marrs man of the match, ahead of Atkinson and Lee.

Wigton move on to Upper Eden next week whilst Littleborough will entertain Aspatria. For Wigton this was a satisfactory win over a side which whilst limited in attack, were determined in defence. The coaching staff will also be puzzling over the number off times we have dominated the scoreboard but not the penalty count. Mark Deans will contend that his bad back in the second half allowed Robert Marrs to edge the ball carrying honours in this match. Marrsy will have other explanations. It is fair to say however that both are proving a handful this season.