Littleborough Plate triumph
IT was an extremely high-scoring friendly match on Saturday as Littleborough came out on top against Southport to claim the Lancashire Plate.
It was reminiscent of the distant past when the two teams were in the same club structure and it was a seasonal fixture.
Boro ran in seven tries, cancelling out the five tries from the hosts to ensure that they came out on top in the game.
There was a strong wind and rain clouds at kick-off, but Littleborough started well when they won the ball from the scrum.
This was followed by a good kick forward from Chris Park, but Southport soon hit back and were given a penalty after just five minutes.
They took full advantage of the opportunity by kicking the ball through the posts to get the first points on the board.
Littleborough weren’t behind for long though, as winger David Kearns crossed the try line for the away side to register their first try, but they couldn’t add the conversion.
There was then déjà vu in the match as Southport added another penalty, but once again that was immediately followed by a try from Boro after Murphy Holt went over between the posts.
This time they were successful with the conversion, as Park was able to add the extras to increase his team’s lead.
Kearns was lively in the opening stages for the away side, and he soon touched down for his second try of the afternoon to put them firmly in the driving seat.
The wet and windy conditions seemed to be causing Park problems with his kicking though, as he didn’t add the conversion on this occasion.
Southport’s first try of the match came on 24 minutes when they broke through the Boro back line, with the home side also scoring the conversion to reduce the deficit to 17-13.
Littleborough then scored a penalty, but Southport ended the half with the momentum when they scored their second unconverted try right before the interval, making it 20-18 to Boro at the break.
The second half began with Littleborough’s Ben Irving making a great break into the opposition half, which allowed Liam Lloyd to cross for another try to again create some breathing space between the teams.
It then got even better for the visitors as Jack Whittles rounded off a good move by going over for another try, with Park adding the conversion on this occasion.
Whittles was just as impressive in defence, as he was then required to break up a Southport attack as the home side looked to get back into the game.
It looked like it was going to be a dominant win for Boro when they grabbed another try through the extremely impressive Whittles, with Park kicking the extras.
Southport had other ideas though, as they continued to fight and scored two tries in quick succession to make it an interesting finish.
Littleborough secured the win late on when Nathan Coop touched down for his side’s seventh try of the match, but Southport had the final say when they scored another converted try right at the death to make the final score 46-37.
It was an extremely entertaining match of rugby where over 83 points were scored. Boro now return to competitive action next week when they host Carlisle.