Brilliant Boro building up a head of steam
LITTLEBOROUGH RUFC made it four wins from five so far this season after a dominant victory over Burnley.
The hosts ran in a number of tries as they romped home to the emphatic win.
It leaves Littleborough second in the North Lancashire Division One table, level on points with league leaders Oldham.
Littleborough started the match against Burnley well and threatened right from the outset, with winger Matt Goldthorpe testing defence.
The defence couldn’t hold out for much longer though, with Chris Roberts, pictured below, getting on the end of an Andy Walton pass to go over for the first try of the game after seven minutes.
Walton added the conversion, and he was again involved in a move just a few minutes later.
He received the ball from Chris Kolbuck before then finding Nathan Ripley, who powered his way over the line to score his first try of the season.
Walton once again successfully added the extras to extend his side’s lead.
Burnley were struggling to cope with the constant pressure from Littleborough and once again the home side were threatening, with Walton soon proving he can do a lot more than kick.
The centre made a great dummy pass before sprinting clear to go over for the third try of the match, before dusting himself off and adding the conversion to keep up his great success rate.
He wasn’t done there, kicking a penalty just a few
the
opposition minutes later to pile more misery onto the visitors.
It looked like Burnley were going to get some points on the board though when they raced into the opposition half, but the Littleborough defence held firm, proving that they can defend as well as they can attack.
Littleborough tried to extend their lead before the interval but they were unable to do so, meaning they led 24-0 at the break.
It was Burnley who started the second half brighter, employing some good attacking play, but again they couldn’t take advantage after the Littleborough defence held firm.
That proved to be costly a few minutes later when Ben Irving touched down after getting on the end of a good pass from Sam Dickinson, with Walton again converting.
Littleborough were in cruise control at this stage and they scored once again after a bit of individual magic from Goldthorpe. Walton again kicked the extras.
Burnley looked to capitalise when Boro’s Paul Fino went in the sin bin on 60 minutes, but good work from Dickinson brought the away side’s attack to an end.
With the hosts back at full strength, Walton capped off his man-ofthe-match performance with another try late on, before adding the conversion.
There was time for Irving to add the final try at the death to bring up the 50-point mark for Littleborough, condemning Burnley to the huge defeat.
There was also a victory for Littleborough’s second team, who beat Oldham 59- 19, but the third team couldn’t make it a hat- trick of victories, narrowly losing to North Manchester 26- 24.