November 10, 2001

By Steve Coulter

AFTER a week of headlines highlighting club survivals, referee shortages and the future of the game, it was somewhat light relief to actually get down to playing again.

WESTFIELD overcame their chronic injury problems to record the most surprising result of the day with a 14-8 victory over Egremont Rangers at Gillfoot Park.

Rangers began confidently enough and opened their account on the first drive of the match. The ball was moved out wide by stand-off Dylan Stainton on the last tackle and ex-Whitehaven man Graeme Colley crossed in the 3rd minute. Darren Block added the conversion.

Block was on target again after 9 minutes with a penalty goal to extend the hosts lead to eight points. But that was as good as it got for Rangers and although they dominated throughout the first period they failed to capitalise on a lion's share of possession.

A knee-injury forced Block out of the game shortly after his second goal and Rangers certainly missed his kicking and attacking abilities for the remainder of the game.

Westfield full-back Ryan Blair, began the fight back with a try 5 minutes before the interval, finishing off a brilliant break by centre Lee Hunter. Mark Rooke added the conversion.

Rooke levelled matters after 46 minutes with a penalty, and 9 minutes later ex-Workington Rugby Union scrum-half David Petitt went over from dummy-half to give Wests the lead for the first time in the match. Rooke's conversion made it 8-14.

It proved to be a lead they never relinquished, and despite furious and sustained pressure from Egremont in the final quarter, the visitors held firm.

Egremont spokesman Stephen Bowes was obviously disappointed after this latest set-back.

"Westfield seemed to come alive when they pulled the score back to 8-6. Their running became so much harder and their tackling had a crispness to it.

"Stand-off Mark Rooke had an excellent game and marshalled their activities well. His shallow kicking game caused our defence all manner of problems.

"It could be described a dour game in a lot of respects and from Egremont's point of view, a game that should have been won, given the amount of pressure we exerted," he said.

ELLENBOROUGH Rangers condemned Wigton to their seventh successive league defeat, despite the visitors providing the Solway Park outfit with one of their toughest tests of the season.

It was a gruelling game and a magnificent defensive stint from the visitors frustrated Rangers for long spells.

Paul McGee opened the scoring after 15 minutes with a penalty. But Wigton stormed back in defiant mood and were unfortunate to fall further behind when Peter Atherton crossed for the home side after 23 minutes.

McGee, enjoying a resurgence of form in recent weeks, added a second try before the interval to extend the lead to ten points.

Wigton maintained their exhaustive work rate during the second forty minutes and a field-goal from Paul Harrison and a penalty from Justin Bennett was some consolation for a mammoth effort.

Ellenborough wrapped-up a 20-3 win with second-half touchdowns from player-coach Jonty Gorley and McGee, the latter also landing a goal.

Former Workington Town three-quarter Paul Gorge who had a solid game for Rangers, picked-up the Man of the match award.

Ellenborough chairman Wilson Smith was obviously impressed with Wigton's performance against his club.

"It was a magnificent performance by Wigton. Their tackling was spot-on in every area of the field.

"It had to be seen to be believed. They went for the full 80 minutes and was a superb effort."

A SEASON of frustration exploded in red and white pandemonium when Hensingham finally swept to a convincing win in a style so obviously missing in the early part of the campaign.

Led up front by a brilliant performance from a mobile pack, Hensingham paid scant respect to the difficult conditions and outplayed their opponents in almost every facet of the game, coming out trumps by the tune of 32-6.

Leading 12-6 at the break Hensingham slung the ball around at every opportunity, while the three-quarters simply paralysed their opponents by the brilliancy of passing movements.

With Carl Hewer again at the hub of everything Hensingham attempted, the Copeland side were in command from start to finish and were full value for their comprehensive victory.

The visitors scored six tries through David Armstrong, two, Craig McAvoy, Stuart Seager, Alan Rae and Carl Hewer. McAvoy landed 2 goals, while Gary Turnbull and Rae were also on target with one apiece.

Centres Mark Smith, try and Greg Rowley, goal, scored Glasson's points.

DOMINANT performances by winger Carl Kirkbride and centre Ian Brannon spearheaded Kells to an impressive 38-2 victory over opponents St. Nicholas who included secretary Andrew Hodgkinson in a depleted squad.

In was an important victory in Kells recent revival and keeps the Copeland sides top-four hopes very much alive.

Though it was their finely-tuned back-line which scored the majority of the points, the unsung heroes were the forwards. With ruthless precision and determination the Kells six made their city opponents look mediocre by comparison.

Kells second-rower Dean Bragg opened the scoring after 8 minutes in dramatic fashion. Fielding a Saints goal-line drop-out on the half-way line he evaded the entire Saints team to score a stupendous solo try. Ryan Robb landed a towering conversion from the touchline, and increased Kells lead to eight points with a penalty after 17 minutes.

Saints' Craig Stalker reduced the deficit with a well executed penalty just before the break.

Two minutes into the second period and Robb regained Kells six points advantage with his second penalty success of the game.

Kirkbride, in a thrilling spell between the 44th and 46th minutes scored two cracking tries to turn the game in Kells favour, and when Robb landed a 52nd minute penalty to stretch the lead to 20-2, Nichs looked a spent force.

Centre Ian Brannon grabbed a brace of tries in a five minute spell between the 62nd and 67th minutes to finally kill the game. Robb added the extras to both.

Centre-partner Matty Newell crossed for the final try of the game with 60 seconds remaining. Stand-off Chris Brannon landed the goal in the absence of Robb who had hobbled from the field nursing a thigh muscle injury.

WATH BROW HORNETS is heading full steam towards its fifth championship on the evidence of yet another tearaway win.

They thrashed Seaton Rangers 42-0 in a terribly lopsided game that again emphasised the difference in standards in this seasons new look first division.

The Rangers had just no answer as Inside-back and skipper Ian Rooney, scampered over in his own inimitable style for two excellent tries.

Hornets big three, Mark Troughton, Scott Tear and loose-forward Carl Rudd virtually did what they liked, bursting the defence down the middle and setting up some spectacular, sweeping tries.

Of the trio Rudd was the pick, collecting a try himself and playing a part in several more of the 7-try blitz.

As if the heavyweights weren't enough to contend with they had to try and control fleet-footed stand-off-half Craig Johnston who flashed over for a superb touchdown.

Andrew Stables was also prominent in much of Hornets fluent attacking style.

Ahead 20-0 at the break, Hornets coasted to a a comprehensive victory with further tries coming through scrum-half Andrew Hocking, substitute Craig Mattinson and Gavin Curwen, who also landed 7 goals.

DISTINGTON are back in business again with 19 players turning up for selection against Wath Brow Hornets 'A'.

Secretary Mark Askew was overjoyed at the response the club had received after their plight was highlighted in the press.

"The newspaper articles certainly stirred things up and brought everybody flooding back.

"The place is buzzing again and the 'old-crack' has returned - its great.

"I was absolutely proud of each and every one of them out there today, they battled until they were dropping on their feet.

"Some haven't trained for a few weeks and struggled, but they got right into Brow's faces and gave it everything they had.

"We will be alright now. A couple of lads were working and couldn't turn-out, but we have somewhere in the region of 22 players to choose from.

"We are teaming up with Seaton for training twice a week and would like to thank them for that gesture.

"In fact we have had all kinds of offers of help and we would like to say a big thank you to everyone who offered their assistance."

For the record, Wath Brow 'A' won 40-0 with tries through Paul Clements, three, Mark Connery, two, Johnny Lopez, Barry Hardman and Neil McCartney. Tony Gregg and Paul Farrell kicked two goals apiece.

Distington's was essentially a team performance, but there was a lot of promise from Neil Linford who was playing his first game for 12 months. While Grant Dryden, Edward Dockwray and the Askew brothers, Dean and Craig.

GREAT Clifton Lions and Flimby, two teams back from the brink of extinction put on a devil-may-care attacking style to produce a game in which Rugby League was the biggest winner.

In conditions hardly conducive for open football, both sides played a full part in a game that produced 52 points.

It was a contest between two well-matched teams and it brought out the best in both.

Second-rower Adrian Ivison, Ian Blair, the Walker brothers and the returning John Gaston were the pick of Clifton's effort.

With the scores locked 10-all at half-time the result could have gone either way. But two tries from centre Gaston helped tip the game Clifton's way 32-20.

Other Lions tries come from Ivison, scrum-half Mark Walker, hooker Ian Johnston and back-rower Jeff Nicholson. Stand-off Wayne Walker landed 4 goals.

Flimby replied with tries from Keith Hesketh, Gary Miller, Tony Eve and Ian Farrell. Gary Hine kicked 2 goals.

EIGHTY minutes of commitment saw Lowca wrap-up their fourth win of the season against a strangely lethargic Broughton Red Rose.

Lowca had the game won by half-time when they led 20-0 and although Red Rose hit back after the break, their only tangible reward was a try and goal from David Thurlow.

Lowca scored tries through Philip Anderson, two, and Lee Allen. Lee Weighman converted all three and added two penalties.

And while the general consensus was that the scoreline didn't accurately reflect the Broughton input. It nevertheless knocked Red Rose off top spot in division two and lifted Lowca into the top-four.

SALTERBECK Storm failed to arrive for their scheduled second division game at Penrith after their transport broke-down en-route.

NONE of the three Alliance League fixtures went ahead after Glasson Rangers 'A', St. Nicholas 'A' and Wigton 'A' failed to raise enough players to fulfill their games against Hensingham, Kells and Seaton Rangers respectively.