Middlesbrough travelled to Bower Park for the opening game of the season and left with a full five points from a 31-18 win.
There were no complaints from Aspatria as Boro are a team with a formidable blend of youth and experience.
Several of their number have played at higher levels of the game and this proved to be a decisive factor.
Aspatria’s second half showing rightly earned plaudits from home supporters. The revival sign-posted better things to come in future games but on this day a ruthless first half performance by Middlesbrough was simply too much to overcome.
The blitz came early, within the first minute Boro centre Aedan Moloney gathered a ball pumped into the visitors 22 and set off on an amazing run through several layers of Aspatria defence to end up dotting down under the posts.
In this move Aspatria also lost influential playmaker Jack Clegg to injury.
In these early stages the only area Aspatria matched Boro was in the set piece scrums, and throughout the game the Black Reds pushed their opponents backwards. It was a small victory but a positive indicator for future battles
On 13 minutes Aspatria effectively defended a maul on the line but when the ball was recycled to the back division up-stepped Moloney to cut through and score his second converted try.
Into the 2nd quarter and the game settled down. Aspatria began to achieve a greater share of possession but an ‘in your face’ defence mounted by Boro resulted in too many mistakes for this to threaten a try.
On 24 minutes Aspatria wisely used a penalty on the edge of the 22 to get something on the scoreboard.
Although Aspatria were not threatening Boro the defence was solid enough and it looked likely that they would take the 3-14 score line to the half time whistle. Two events either side of the break would determine the end result.
The first came on 37 minutes when Aspatria halted a maul around the 22. The ball might have gone anywhere but on this day it was recycled into Boro hands and an arching run ended in the corner for a third try.
Straight after half-time any outside hope of an Aspatria win was demolished by Moloney. His running line was just too good for Aspatria to counter and the bonus point was in the bag for the visitors.
It was from this point that Aspatria at least began to match Boro and on 52 minutes came close to registering a first try before the move eventually broke down.
The Boro defence held but was beginning to creak. When the home score came it was a mix of good fortune and enterprise.
The ball was hacked up field and it could have been recovered by Boro but the chase was good, in fact too good, with centre Guy Reed powering his way past defenders to kick on and win the chase over the line to dot down
Aspatria were now relishing a newly discovered grip on the game. The Boro pack was being marched back at will and the home forwards took up residence close to the try line. The score looked inevitable but the scorer was a surprise.
Second row Dickie Miller, usually at the bottom of a ruck, found himself at the back, gathering a loose ball and charging over the line for his very first Aspatria try in the 15 or so seasons he has graced a Black Red shirt.
It was now 13-26 and maybe just a sniff of a losing bonus point? Moloney put an end to that with Boro plundering the ball at the restart and him cutting through for a fourth score.
With the final play of the game Grant Bethwaite on the left wing came onto the ball and roared past flailing arms to get a score at the corner flag and end the day’s action.
