Dozen that look good as Bears’ perfect run continues at Saddleworth

Saddleworth U10 12 West Bank Bears U10 20 WEST Bank Bears made the long journey to the outskirts of Oldham to play against a strong Saddleworth outfit that have so far been unbeaten at home.

Something had to give as the Bears approached the game with a flawless record of 11 wins from 11 matches played to date.

The match started well for West Bank – and in particular front-rower Josh Swindley who charged over the tryline carrying no less than three Saddleworth defenders with him for the away side’s first score of the game.

Despite heavy rain prior to the kick-off, the young Widnes boys showed some great handling to keep the home side on their toes and eventually this led to more good field position for the Bears.

Five tackles on the opposition tryline saw the pressure eventually lead to the second try of the game, this time Swindley diving over from dummy-half and planting the ball down with one hand.

The momentum was still with West Bank going into the half-time break, but the home side had started to gain a little confidence after some strong attacking sets.

Nevertheless, the interval scoreline of 10-0 was a fair one.

The second half began with the young Bears in the ascendancy again and dazzling footwork from Kian McGann saw him dance between and around four flailing Saddleworth tacklers to take the scoreline further out to 14-0.

Saddleworth had enjoyed some brief spells of strong attacking play but they just could not seem to break down the resolute defence demonstrated by the Bears.

It was this rearguard which restricted the home side’s yardage and forced an error early in the tackle count leading to a handover on the halfway line.

From the first play of the ball, Kian McGann again danced past a handful of defenders and raced up field to score under the posts and take the scoreline with the successful conversion to 20-0.

However, the game certainly was not over and with five minutes to go Saddleworth finally got on the scoresheet after some lapses in defensive concentration on the Bears’ own tryline.

If that was not disappointing enough for the visitors, Saddleworth then scored again on the final whistle to give them 12 respectable points – but not something the Bears were happy with.

Overall, this was another strong performance by the Bears on a small playing surface which certainly benefited the home side.

The win, though, takes the Widnes youngsters on to a perfect 12 victories from 12 games played so far this season.