Title-chasers too strong for visitors
LITTLEBOROUGH Rugby Union Club endured a tough Saturday afternoon on the Cumbrian coast as promotion chasing Aspatria racked up a convincing 53 points to 12 victory.
In the welcomed sunshine and on excellent playing conditions, Aspatria completed a league double over their Lancashire rivals that keeps them in touch with the top two while leaving the visitors still looking over their shoulders in the fight to stay up.
Straight from the whistle, the omens looked good for the home side as they showcased a sign of things to come with a unconverted try from their right winger. Aspatria were noticably choosing not to kick the ball out of defence but ran hard with ball in hand and passing down the line to keep Boro constantly on alert.
Against the run of play however, Littleborough restored parity with a brilliant individual effort from wing Liam Lloyd. This shocked Aspatria into life and they made their possessional dominance count with two converted tries, helped in part to some poor defensive tackling by Boro.
There was then a period when Boro got on the front foot but unfortunately couldn’t capitalise on the pressure they were placing on the home side, unlike Aspatria who streaked home with another two scores including a second for the right winger.
This made the half time score 29-5.
The second half started with a good catch of the ball by Boro’s Jack Whittles and followed soon after with visiting forwards applying pressure near the hosts line. Eventually the pressure told with a great push over try by Cosmin Rosu and converted by Adam Browne, which gave hope to Boro supporters who had braved the long trip north.
But a couple of injuries to key players Richard Taylor and Paul Fino meant Boro were showing the effects of a hard defensive game and it became increasingly difficult to match the constant pressure and speed of running by their opposition.
In the latter part of the match, Aspatria ran in a further four tries and conversions to create a score sadly emphasising the difference in the two teams.