Birkenhead Park's powerful pack, probably the strongest in the league, laid the foundation for their 14-24 win at Wigton as they chase promotion. They are virtually neck to neck with Wirral, And they were determined that they would not slip up in Cumbria. For what it is worth, the consensus of opinion at Wigton was that Birkenhead were a tougher proposition than Wirral, who were the last visitors to Lowmoor Road. Park do not have a lot of flair and pace, but they play a very structured game very well and have all round strength and physicality in all positions. They had no intention of trying to play from deep in their own half as fly half White's boot time and again pinned play deep in Wigton territory. Their set piece play was the foundation of their win but Wigton performed heroics in defence to keep the margin at ten points and deny the visitors a try in open play.

Birkenhead kicked off and followed up with great gusto but an early break by Wigton scrum half Fergus Ledingham quietened them down. A couple of phases late, centre Will Miller's break took him into the Birkenhead 22 but his outside support had slightly overrun the pass. There was an ominous sign when Birkenhead took Wigton's first scrum against the head, but they surrendered the initiative with a forward pass of their own.

From the next scrum, hooker Richard Jackson's clean strike got the ball to No 8 Mark Lee quickly and he linked with right winger Tom Gardner to make good ground. A good break from prop/flanker Stuart Creighton resulted in a penalty for Wigton, which Gardner struck cleanly for an early 3-0 lead.

On their next possession, slick handling produced a glimmer of an overlap for Wigton, but over elaboration saw the ball hit the deck. From the ruck, Wigton were penalised for side entry. The resulting kick set up Birkenhead Park for an extended stay in the Wigton 22. First came a catch and drive at the line, the first of many. Then came strong direct running as the ball was released. Backs and forwards carried with equal vigour but the home defence stayed firm and forced errors. Unfortunately, scrums to Wigton were a mixed blessing as Park pressure either drove Wigton off the ball or gave them possession that was hard to use. At one point Birkenhead seemed to have an overlap, but the pass was knocked on. They then drove Wigton off their own ball under the posts and player-coach Sean Woof in the centre, with several years of experience in higher leagues, including Premiership rugby with Leeds, was able to angle back and go over for a well taken try. Captain Dave Hall, playing on the wing, added the conversion to make the score 3-7.

Wigton then proceeded to frustrate themselves by failing to look after hard own ball and it was not long before Park were back in Wigton territory. However, defensive penalties enabled the pressure to be lifted and another penalty for a high tackle enabled Gardner to slot over a penalty from forty yards to narrow the score to 6-7.

Wigton then enjoyed a period of play in the Birkenhead half. A chip from David Hanabury, who was outstanding in defence and never stopped trying in attack, created uncharacteristic panic in the defence with the ball being kicked dead in goal for a scrum 5 to Wigton. A restructuring of the pack settled things down for a while and Wigton were able to win the ball and move it again to the dangerous Gardner. Referee Martin Plummer penalised winger Greg Scott for not rolling away from the tackle area and, as it was the latest in a number of infringements by Birkenhead, he was shown the yellow card. Wigton tapped the penalty five yards out, setting up a maul from which The industrious Robert Marrs scored. Gardner was just short with the conversion from wide out on the right, but Wigton were now 11-7 up.

However, from the kick off, Wigton were unable to clear and conceded possession with a knock on. This initiated another wave of attacks with halftime beckoning. The Birkenhead runners were kept out by the Green defenders once again, but a penalty was conceded close to the line. Hooker Stuart Brown, quick as a flash, tapped to himself and crashed over the line before the defence could reorganise. Hall added the extras for a 11-14 scoreline at the break.

Wigton started the second half well enough and a Lee break set up play in the Birkenhead 22. A penalty was warded a few yards out and Wigton tried to reproduce their play for the penalty in the first half. However, this time they got their timing wrong and were penalised for obstruction.

The bulk of the next twenty five minutes saw Birkenhead in possession in the Wigton half. Even when Wigton cleared, the Birkenhead lineout was untouchable and White soon planted the ball in Wigton territory again. Birkenhead had brought on the mountainous replacement prop Martin O'Keefe, another who had spent time in higher leagues. He gave Wigton no end of trouble in the scrum and took quite a bit of pulling down when he had the ball. He showed the meaning of the term impact replacement as he played out a twenty five minute cameo. It may have been coincidence, but only when he was withdrawn did Wigton get much time on the attack again.

Firing this period, all the Wigton players manned up in defence. Marrs held up a maul, Moffatt intercepted and Brown won turnovers, but Birkenhead came back constantly. Again, the home side struggled to clear their lines from scrums and Birkenhead's driving maul from lineouts was a constant threat. Both their tries came from catch and drives, one producing a try for the excellent No 8 Dave Ibbotson, on his birthday, whilst the other gave Stuart Brown a brace. One was converted giving a score of 11-24.

Birkenhead's period of dominance was punctuated by a mistake by White. The ball was taken out the twenty two and passed back to him in the twenty two and he kicked direct to touch. This gave Wigton the ball in the visitors' 22 for the first time in quite a while. This play led to a penalty for Wigton which Gardner kicked. The score of 14-24 at least held out the promise of the chance of a bonus point with another score.

In the last ten or fifteen minutes, Wigton's defence held and they at last started to see some ball. However, all that tackling had taken its toll and tired legs in attack were unable to pierce the Birkenhead defence. Efforts to score grew increasingly frenetic, often resulting in loss of possession. Kicks produced good territorial gain, but little prospect of winning the ball in Birkenhead's throw.

When Mr Plummer blew the final whistle, Wigton had given their all, but Birkenhead had the win.

The Man of the Match was awarded by Match Sponsors ADJH Electrical and Land Drive Ltd and was a contest between Russ McLean, Will Miller and Tom Gardner. It was close to call but on the back of marshalling some superb midfield defence it went to Will Miller.