League leaders pushed all the way.

Their reaction at the final whistle suggests that they were pleased to come away from this potential banana skin on their promotion campaign with a narrow 10-5 win. They were not undeserving of their win which featured a well executed kicking game and some excellent defensive work, but Wigton's attempt to claw back a 10-0 deficit in the second half was hamstrung by three yellow cards which added up to thirty minutes rugby with a man short.

Wirral had the better of the swirling wind in the first half. The going was soft but not unduly wet. It was not a surface for a lot of free running and backs had to wait patiently for a touch of the ball, although Wirral were slightly more expansive in their attacks.

The pattern of the half was set early on. A penalty conceded by Wigton enabled Wirral skipper Craig Harvey to kick for a position in the home 22. As the game went on, honours at the scrum were fairly even, with both sides defending their own put ins reasonably well. However, this was not a day when the Wirral line would function well. Their were two factors at play here. One was the presence of Wigton's Matthew Atkinson who picked off a number of Wirral throws at the front of the line. The other was the fact that when he tried to throw the ball further back, Wirral hooker Jason Green, otherwise splendid round the park, found it hard to come to terms with the blustery wind and possession was lost with wayward throws.

On the other hand, whilst this meant that Wigton obtained possession denying Wirral continuity, the home kickers found it difficult to make much ground with clearance kicks into the wind.

Following an early passage of play in this manner, Wigton's tactics became clear when on their first possession they instigated a driving maul. This tactic made ground and ran the clock down as the elements were against them, but it also meant that if any mistakes turned possession over to Wirral, play was still usually in the Wigton half.

Wirral were obviously looking to right winger Sam Broadbent to be the man to prise open the home defence and he threatened with his first run, only to be bundled into touch a few yards from the line. Another promising attack petered out when the ball was passed both forward and into touch.

Wigton's defence was holding firm in a number of threatening situations. Wirral were once held up over the line and on another occasion took the option of a scrum when awarded a penalty. Wigton's penalty count was growing and they seemed unable to get in harmony with referee Mr Dunn of Durham, either in attack or defence.

There were occasional forays into the Wirral half, but Harvey's towering clearance kicks were hung up in the wind to move play back into Wigton territory. Wirral left winger Alistair Baker made a genuine line break when he came of his wing and found an inside shoulder to attack. However, Wigton's defence again reformed quickly. Home full back Gregg Smith produced a splendid piece of play in defence when he fielded a teasing grubber and danced away for the first two opponents.

Wirral's domination of territory finally paid off when they were awarded a free kick at a scrum. Most spectators were expecting them to opt for a re scrum, but instated a quick tap was taken and Broadbent burst through to score, after coming in field and running onto a tempting short pass by Harvey, who converted for a 7-0 lead to the visitors.

The pattern continued with Wigton defending their line tenaciously. Second row mark Deans had to be alert to be the first man to get to a grubber kick from Harvey which bobbled over the tryline.

With halftime approaching it looked as though Wigton were going to reach the interval only one score down, but disaster struck. Wigton were awarded a penalty which Lee took with a quick tap. However, the referee blew his whistle to bring play back as he was speaking to the offender. As he blew, Lee was tackled by Harvey. Probably feeling that the tackle was unnecessary, he offloaded the ball towards Harvey. The Wirral captain, not appreciative of that, appeared to give Lee a smack in the face. Mr Dunn arrived and reversed the penalty and showed Lee a yellow card. Furious home supporters expressed their disapproval. Some felt that nothing that occurred warranted a yellow card for anyone, but if yellow cards should be flourished, then Harvey should have received one as well, on the grounds that his retaliation was worse than Lee's offence. However, the decision was made and the penalty enabled Wirral to open up a 10-0 lead as the whistle blew.

As the second half started, at least Wigton would have the better of the elements, but they were down to 14 men. Nevertheless they set out their stall right from the kick off which was caught and then driven deep into Wirral territory. As they started to build pressure, the referee indicated a penalty to Wigton, twenty yards out, in front of the posts. Sensing a free play, fly half Hanabury tried a little grubber for Tom Gardner to run on to, but the ball dribbled into touch. Wigton were then disappointed that the referee did not come back for the penalty. Despite this, Wigton kept the bulk of possession and territory till Lee returned.

Shortly afterwards, Wigton's tactics paid off as a catch by Atkinson was the focus for a drive which thrust skipper Andy Brown, playing scrum half, over the line. Gardner was unable to covert from the right side, but Wigton were back in the game at 5-10. The game seemed to be moving in the home team's direction. Wigton now dominated territory, although Harvey tried to pin them back with some good clearance kicks. The preferred tactic was the driven line which, whilst not pretty was at least pretty effective. The penalty count started to swing back Wigton's way as Wirral tried a series of ploys to halt Wigton's maul, none of which met with the referee's approval. Harvey's 80 minute dialogue with the referee went through a very animated phase.

Yet once again, a controversial moment saw Wigton's hopes receive a body blow. With Wigton in possession, Brown used his boot to move a leg off the ball. The referee did not like what he saw and the yellow card was again flourished.

Wirral sensed a chance to put the game to bed and with a man advantage, they tried to move the ball to the wings more quickly. Again Wigton had to man the barricades, but they did so successfully. Wirral had an easy penalty chance in front of the posts, but it was badly scuffed. Thus, when Brown returned to the fray, there had been no change to the score.

In the last ten to fifteen minutes of the game, Wigton tried to win the game. The driven maul continued to feature, but Gardner started to come into the action more, running infield off his wing. However, the Wirral defence was unyielding, and line breaks were hard to find. Nevertheless, with so much of the game taking place in Wirral territory, the win was still possible.

However, Wigton received another blow when the referee perplexingly showed Atkinson the yellow card for bringing down a maul. Cards for this offence are not uncommon if one team is driving for the tryline. What was so odd about this one was that the offence took place on the Wirral 22.

However, Wirral's vulnerability at their own lineouts meant Wigton were still on with a chance. Wigton were given a penalty when Gardner was obstructed as he contested a kick. This enabled Wigton to bring the match to a tense finish as they threw into a line a few yards out. Anticipation was followed by anticlimax: with Atkinson off the field, they were unable to perform the first part of the move, namely winning the ball in the line. A similar incident a few moments later illustrated how vital Atkinson had been to Wigton's tactics all day. Wirral's reaction of joy and relief at the final whistle was at least an indication that no one in the league underestimates the difficulty of playing at Lowmoor Road. Wirral will doubtless hope that Wigton can give them some breathing space by beating Birkenhead Park, a single point behind in second place, in our next home game.

Despite the controversies of the refereeing, Wirral played very effectively and they will feel that all in all, they deserved their win. It would have been very interesting had Wigton been able to play all the second half with fifteen men. As it is, Wigton, with 16 of their 18 man squad having come through their youth teams, had to be content with a losing bonus point.

The sponsors for the day were a group of 50 Senior EX-players organised by former Cumbria and Wigton centre John Jennings. They awarded the steak to number 8 Mark Lee but also in the frame for the award were Second row Rob Marrs and Full back Gregg Smith who both had strong games. A packed club room was treated to some 'traditional' J N Bell humour as he made the presentation to Mark and presentations also took place to Skipper Andy Brown for 100 1st XV games and Vice Captain David Hanabury for 150 games.

Next week Wigton have what surely must be a great chance to break our away duck if we can get a strong team on the bus, when we travel to seemingly relegation bound Altrincham.