A haul of eight tries saw Aspatria comfortably home against Hartlepool Rovers with all five points as they battle for a promotion place.
Hartlepool Rovers were combative throughout the game, but it finished 50-7 to the Black Reds.
Although the visitors secured a decent share of possession the difference between the sides proved to be Aspatria’s ability to turn possession into scores.
The result did not influence league standings. Aspatria remain fifth and this may prove good enough for promotion if the Cumbrians obtain positive results from their three remaining games.
Aspatria will not wish to leave this matter to chance and to be absolutely certain of a bump up the leagues, only fourth-place or better provides a cast-iron guarantee.
Stockton currently occupy this berth and on current form seem in no mood to drop the five-point advantage they hold over Aspatria but there may be twists and turns yet to come.
Aspatria came blazing out of the traps. Phil Dixon received the kick-off and immediately carved through the on-rushing defence to set up number eight Gary Hodgson’s charge to the line.
Hodgson was brought down short but the ball flew right to centre Joe Beaty who crossed the line with only 43 seconds on the clock.
It all looked plain sailing for Aspatria when they increased the lead after six minutes through back-row Jamie Lightfoot. This was the first of several successful sweeping moves involving a mix of backs and forwards.
For the most part, Rovers were able to rebuff the initial surges but the quality of Aspatria’s ball retention consistently unlocked their defence.
From the restart, Rovers won a scrum penalty in front of the posts but the kick was missed allowing Aspatria to escape unscathed. They took full advantage and moved play back upfield.
It was a near carbon copy of the earlier tries as Aspatria used the full width of the pitch to switch play and pull defenders out of position. The man on the end of the move was second row Chris Graham who crashed over.
Rovers responded with their best spell of the game. They were clearly stung by Aspatria’s impressive start and seemed determined to make amends with a forwards surge upfield.
It was powerful stuff and deserved the score that followed to close the gap to 17-7.
The Rovers’ resurgence continued from the restart and provided Aspatria with a few nervous moments. A second Rovers score seemed on the cards and even more likely when home stand-off Jack Clegg was yellow carded for illegally slowing down Rovers progress to the line.
The stage was set with Rovers a man up and a line-out on the five-metre line.
Unfortunately for Rovers, they botched the line-out as they would with a number of others throughout the game.
Play was now concentrated in the visitors’ half. Rovers went a man down on 28 minutes for a no arms tackle and Aspatria used the resultant penalty to move play the breadth of Bower Park into the hands of Jason Ward on the right-wing, where he found space to round the cover defence and secure the bonus point try.
Before half-time Aspatria put the end result beyond doubt with a fifth try which was something special.
The initial build-up around the halfway line had the defensive line scrambling. At this point hooker Adam Cavanagh took over the ball and charged a full 30 meters to the line, jinking left and right, wrong-footing several defenders on his journey before crossing the line to end the half 31-7 in favour of the home side.
From the start of the second half, it was all Aspatria. Within minutes a penalty was awarded in their favour, directly under the posts.
Aspatria elected a scrum and that close there was only going to be one outcome when Rovers’ pack began to move backwards and Hodgson launched off the back.
Rovers came back at Aspatria with some testing attacks but they simply could not hold the ball long enough to wear down the black and red defence.
It was into the final quarter before Aspatria increased their advantage with another score to delight the large home support. From a breakdown close to Rovers’ try line, Clegg broke to his right and outwitted the waiting defence with a no-look back pass. Prop Graham Andrews read the play to perfection and raced onto the ball and over the line.
With the final play of the game, Grant Bethwaite surged down the touchline but the Rovers’ cover defence were in his path.
Without breaking stride Bethwaite neatly chipped the ball over the try line and then had the gas to beat the final defender to the touch down to bring a very satisfying home performance to a conclusion.
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