The club season came to an end at a bright and breezy Bower Park with Wigton maintaining their 100% league recorded in the best possible way, with a win over local rivals Aspatria. The Black Reds were desperate to dent Wigton's record and keep alive their playoff hopes, but were unable to reproduce the form which carried them to Cumbria Cup glory in recent weeks.

As the teams ran out we saw in Wigton's Andrew Bell and Aspatria's Mike Scott, possibly the last survivors of Cumbria's 1996-97 County Championship winning side still playing first team rugby.

The breeze was difficult to read and seemed to change throughout the afternoon. Scott's plan seemed to be to use the breeze to kick long and set up play in the Wigton half. However, the effect was often to give Wigton the ball, and Aspatria were never able to establish much of a base in the Wigton 22. It is interesting that in the second half, with the game seemingly lost, Aspatria were much more successful when they kept the ball in hand, but more of that later.

Aspatria must have been encouraged when their lifters got the athletic Mark Beverly up in front of Matthew Atkinson, to steal Wigton's first two lineouts. However, that was about all there was to encourage the home team in the first half. Wigton showed, as throughout the season, that they have the ability to strike from long distance.

Aspatria made a mess of a lineout, which generally went well for them. The ball bobbled about over the heads of the forwards and Wigton claimed it. Torpenhow's own Mark Lee took it on and then linked up with his three-quarters. Ali Ledingham mesmerised the defence with his footwork and caused them to be left flat footed. As the wide defence moved in, Ledingham released his right winger Will Miller who ran in the try from thirty metres for Wigton's first try. The conversion was missed.

The next action saw Atkinson penalised for a dangerous tackle, but referee Mr Trainor reversed the penalty when one of the Aspatria forwards decided to take responsibility for punishing the transgressors. This gave Ledingham the chance to kick three points to take Wigton into an eight point lead.

Wigton have acquired a reputation for a scrummaging weakness this season and this was an area where Aspatria tried to apply pressure. They did managed to get a nudge on once or twice, but Wigton were able to win all their own ball, and by the end of the game, the contest was more even. It was from a scrum that Wigton's next long range try came. From just outside their own 22 the ball was moved to the less populated right hand side of the field. Gregg Smith entered the line and had the space and the pace to cut clean through the defence. As he approached full back Tony Nicholson, he had the simple task of passing inside to Mark Lee, whose support lines have been superb all season, for a try. Ledingham's conversion took the lead to fifteen points.

Wigton now grew in confidence, and the difference between the sides could be seen in the quality of the handling. Many of Aspatria's periods of possession ended frustratingly with a dropped pass: Wigton, on the other hand, were pinging the ball around at speed and every pass seemed to stick. Several balls were picked off bootlaces and during this purple pass, every no-look pass, every reverse pass and even between the legs passes seemed to come off. The outrageous stuff was probably slightly overdone in the second half, but at this point, the visiting fans were in raptures.

One such period of play took Wigton into the Aspatria 22. The attack was foiled, but only at the expense of another penalty, which Ledingham slotted over to take the lead out to eighteen points.

One key feature go Wigton's play this season has been the ability to follow one try with another straight from the kick off. Here was another example. Lee fielded the ball, but the defenders held back, waiting to see who he was going to pass to. Sensing this, he powered forward through some rather lackadaisical defending. He made good ground and from the quickly recycled ball, Wigton attacked a sparsely defended blindside. First Atkinson made good ground, then Lee again and the final pass was taken by Andrew Bell. The veteran forward touched down for the biggest cheer of the day from the Wigton supporters. The try was unconverted, but Wigton now had a twenty three point lead.

They nearly repeated the trick from the next kickoff. Deans, forming a centre partnership of the bludgeon and the rapier with Ledingham, made ground, followed by Moffatt and Marrs, before they were penalised for holding on.

The half finished with Aspatria stringing some passes together and finally enjoying possession in the Wigton 22. As the halftime whistle, some of the home supporters could be forgiven for wondering how Aspatria were going to avoid a drubbing. Their kicking game had brought little advantage, usually being cleanly fielded by the Wigton back three: on the other hand, Wigton's kicked often seemed to bounce and evade would-be fielders, giving them less time to clear. Aspatria's attacks had been muscular but somewhat blunt, seeming to be short of a cutting edge. They must have been regretting the absence of Haycock and Tinnion, two backs who could have provided that edge. By contrast, Wigton, shorn of their standoff David Hanabury through injury, were able to bring in the experienced Tane Manihera, an ideal man to orchestrate attacking play.

Things seemed to get no better for the home team at the start of the second half. Manihera received the ball from the kickoff and sent a long kick down the left touchline. Aspatria looked to use this to set up an attack. However, as they ran into contact, the ball was turned over and Wigton looked to move the ball across their 22 to the opposite flank. They even had time to recover from a misdirected pass, and Miller set off on a run out of defence. He carried for about forty metres before passing inside to Atkinson who made a thirty metre gallop to the line virtually unopposed. This was his 39th try of the season, a club record and it meant he topped the Raptor League try scoring list for the top try scorer in English Rugby. There was no conversion, but at 0-28, Aspatria were staring into the abyss.

To their credit, they looked in, decided they didn't like it, and rolled up their sleeves to dominate the rest of the match, bar the final minute. Wigton may have thought the game won and become complacent. Certainly things were tried which we can only assume would not have been attempted with a closer scoreline. Crucially, they also incurred the repeated displeasure of Mr Trainor, who caned them with a 13-2 penalty count in the second half.

At first it seemed as if this was Aspatria's last throw of the dice, but as the half went on, it was clear it was more than that. They started to keep the ball in hand, and importantly, drop it less. Scott tried to conjure up the pass which would put someone in a gap. Clegg tried to use his elusive qualities to sneak through. Skipper Andrew Miller tried to galvanise his team into action. Forwards such as Preston, Andrews and Fagan carried with intent to get the attackers on the front foot.

However, Wigton's defence is a tough nut to crack. They have conceded a miserly two hundred or so points this season, and they were not about to give away easy points; penalties, yes; easy points no. Aspatria had a number of lineouts and scrums deep in the clubhouse corner, but Wigton resisted assaults which would have brought scores against most teams in the league. On on occasion they crossed the line but the referee had no chance of seeing the ball in the heap of bodies. Mr Trainor's patience ran out and he showed the yellow card to Andrew Brown for not rolling away from the tackle area.

Finally, Aspatria got on the scoreboard as Miller, leading by example made a rare break through the defensive line and then showed good strength and footwork to finish off an excellent individual effort. Clegg added the conversion.

Any supposition that Wigton would now resume their first half dominance was dashed as more penalties gave Aspatria base camp in the Wigton 22 again. As Wigton got back to fifteen men, Aspatria threw into a lineout on the five metre line. This time the Aspatria forwards got round the ball and build some momentum. They made their way to the line where Fagan got the try. Clegg was unable to add the conversion but the scoreline now looked much closer at 12-28.

Aspatria tried again to get the driven lineout going, but committed defence kept them out. A feature of Wigton's defence was the choke tackle, where the ball carrier is held up, resulting in a scrum to the defence. Robert Marrs seemed be at the heart of a number of these.

Scott tried to give the defence no time to organise by taking quick taps. From one of these he seemed to have turned the trick, and there was space wide on the right wing. Lee Holliday was seemingly bound for the tryline, when he was hit by possibly the tackle of the match by Gregg Smith. Even with minutes left and the game won, Wigton took pride in defending their line.

It was Wigton, who perhaps appropriately, had the last say in their historic season. With time up on the clock, a long kick out of defence was field by Aspatria. Replacement Ryan Clark had followed up and made a tackle. As a maul developed, Alistair Ledingham emerged with the ball and ran to the line. He missed the defence, but with a score of 12-33, the whistle blew and celebrations began.

Wigton now go on to try and make an impression on North West One next season. As for Aspatria, they will certainly be one of the early favourites for promotion next season. The key to it will be to avoid this season's indifferent start.

Wigton have enjoyed a season to look back on in the long winter nights. Young men of twenty will be able to recall the part they played in this season for the next sixty years. The chances are that the thirty five players used this season will be able to say for the rest of their lives that they played a part in Wigton's only unbeaten season.

The statistics speak for themselves with twenty six wins from twenty six games, over 1200 points scored and just over 200 conceded. Apart from Matthew Atkinson's try scoring feats, Gregg Smith has scored 21 tries, Ali Ledingham 18, David Hanabury 15, Will Miller 14 and Mark Deans 12.

What the statistics do not show is the style of the wins and the quality of the rugby played. It is many years since we have seen running and passing with the spirit of this season.
However in the 2013-14 season we will start with no points again. After a period of celebration, the top priority must be preparation for next season. The 2012-13 season is now history, but consigned to glorious memory........... And I was there!