Eccles take the points

Following an eventful journey down to Eccles including a change of transport at Forton Services, Wigton were slow out of the blocks and found themselves 12-0 behind after only 3 minutes with Eccles scoring two breakaway tries and a conversion.

Fortunately Wigton settled down and a period of controlled possession inside the Eccles 22 brought a series of penalties and a yellow card shown to a Eccles player. However, Wigton were unable to turn possession into points and after 19 minutes Eccles scored a third try to increase their lead to 17-0. Worse was to follow on 26 minutes as Robert Marrs infringed and was shown a yellow card. Despite being reduced to 14 men, Wigton showed a lot of resolve and no further points were conceded and Eccles led 17-0 at half time.

Wigton started the second half much more brightly and following a good passage of play, full back Steven Harris crossed the line only for the referee to adjudge that two 2 Wigton players had crossed before the final pass. After 53 minutes Wigton were rewarded for their endeavour when centre Richard Moffatt touched down beneath the posts leaving fly half Ryan Clark with a simple conversion reducing the arrears to 17-7. Eccles responded with a bonus point try and conversion to lead by 24-7.

Wigton continued to compete until Chris Pattinson was shown the yellow card for a series of infringements with two minutes to go. Eccles took advantage with a 5th try in the final play of the match. The full time score of 29-7 was well deserved by a strong Eccles team, but credit to the young Wigton team who never gave up. A number of players who were unavailable for the trip to Eccles will hopefully return for this weekends local derby with neighbours Carlisle

The Man of the Match Award was a toss up between Ryan Clark and Nathan Cozens - as Nathan was on the bus, he got the bottle of Port!