'It was a blow to lose play maker Dave Hanabury plus Robert Marrs and Josh Nicholson who all failed late fitness tests but the main positive was the narrow margin of defeat which confirms the continued improvement in performance over recent weeks.

It was cruel to lose it at the death having battled hard from 50 mins on, when they drew level.

A mention to Aron Henderson and Oliver Lewis who both played out of position but manned up well on wings - Oliver was up against one of the quickest in the league in Ade Titiloye. Skipper Andrew Brown played 60 mins and led from the front - first start for 6 months following rehab.

Man of the Match was a close call - Fergus Ledingham, John Story, Richard Moffatt were in the frame - well done to Ferg.

We have now used 50 players for the league campaign - thirty five Under 25, eight 25-30; five over 30 and two over 50! After 24 matches, only Russ McLean has been ever present.'
Malc

Match Report

For much of the second half of this match it looked as though Wigton's second half defensive effort into the wind was going to be rewarded with a draw. Unfortunately, a defensive lapse two minutes from time enabled Broughton Park to register a win.

The wind was always going to play an important role in this match and Wigton played with it behind them in the first half. This meant that Wigton had the better of the half territorially, but, as Broughton Park found in the second half, playing with the wind meant that there was no margin for error with the precision of the passing, as the elements had a tendency to carry the ball away from the receiver of the pass.

Sensible kicking enabled Wigton to spend a lot of time in the visitors' 22. An early lineout was caught, driven forward by the pack and then moved wide. Oliver Lewis, playing on the wing, was tackled just short of the line. Another chance was lost with poor passing. Broughton Park were not finding it easy to clear their lines and they were further handicapped by their tendency to concede penalties.

A try came when the backs moved the ball left. The defenders seemed to have enough numbers to deal with the attack, but fly half Ryan Clark executed a neat run-around play which created an overlap and enabled left winger Aaron Henderson to cross for the score. Full back Gregg Smith kicked a fine touch line conversion to give Wigton a 7-0 lead.

Unfortunately, a dropped ball from the restart gave Broughton Park the chance to spend time in Wigton territory. Their first attack was countered with a well won turnover, but from a subsequent lineout skipper Ade Titiloye came off his blindside wing to make an extra man on the open side, enabling full back Warren Duffy to cross for an unconverted try, making the score 7-5.

The visitors threatened the line again when winger Kyle Bailiff raced clear, but a splendid covering tackle by Smith saved the day. Shortly afterwards he kicked a penalty to extend Wigton's lead to 10-5. Wigton stayed on the attack kicking penalties to the corner. Broughton Park offended in defence once too often for referee Gregg Dawson of Northumberland and he showed a yellow card to second row Chris Huntley. Wigton saw the chance to finish the half with a score but a couple of indifferent passes blew the chance.

Wigton began the second half receiving the ball and tried to establish a pattern of play going through the phases. However, Broughton Park's defensive line pressed very effectively and pushed the ball carriers back behind the gain line and then won a turnover. As the ball was passed away from the ruck, outside centre Michael Butt had two runners outside him but had the pace to glide through a gap in the defence and score himself. The conversion was missed, but with their first possession of the half, Broughton Park had levelled the scores at 10-10.

They must have fancied their chances off extending their lead, but a combination of poor execution on their part and determined defensive play by Wigton, frustrated them for most of the remainder of the match.

The visitors showed signs of getting on top at the scrums, but Wigton managed to win most of their own ball. Twice scrum half Fergus Ledingham showed sharp reactions to grab the ball as it emerged from the Park scrum, once when they looked to be heading for a pushover try.

When Wigton had possession they looked to play at pace and put the Manchester team on the back foot. Ledingham once again was at the heart of things with quick to from penalties. A second Broughton Park player was sent to the sin bin when prop Lawrence Cray made no attempt to retreat ten metres before tackling Ledingham.

The visitors showed signs of frustration: a kick from a midfield scrum ran dead to give Wigton possession. An overlap beckoned for the Greens but a hard tackle on centre Steven Harris knocked the ball loose. Wigton were looking to the likes of Smith and Richard Moffatt to conjure a break. On one occasion the home support thought Smith was racing clear, but play was brought back for a forward pass from Andy Brown.

The game seemed destined for a draw, but with their last play of the game Broughton Park spotted Wigton had numbered up wrongly and left a wide blindside short of defenders. That enabled winger Bailiff to squeeze over at the corner to make the score 10-15.

There was just time for the restart but when it failed to go ten metres the referee blew for full time.

Wigton almost came off with a draw but they were not quite as accurate as in similar situations in the matches against New Brighton and Vale of Lune. Nevertheless, the last few home performances have been encouraging, suggesting that we can approach next season with a degree of confidence.