Early doors in the Cumbria League it looked as though Egremont might emerge as the main contenders to Upper Eden’s title ambitions.
But with the season past half-way and the 12 teams split into top and bottom Conference sections the West Cumbrians have rather dropped away.
They had a splendid start to the season but now have rather fallen away and have left Cockermouth as Upper Eden’s main challengers.
Upper Eden travelled to Egremont in the latest round of fixtures and were 31-7 winners to maintain their impressive record.
The first 10 minutes, however, were dominated by Egremont pressing and controlling the possession and territory. Eden’s defence held firm and repelled all that Egremont threw at them before finally breaking down the pitch and after a few quick phases resulted in a try in the corner by a supporting Ollie Rose.
Eden then started to exert more control on the game and again with more good phase play combining forwards and backs released a strong backline handling move creating space for Alistair Barr to latch onto and cross over in the corner untouched.
Eden continued to squeeze the Egremont defence for gaps and this meant more positive possession and ultimately another score awarded via a penalty try as an illegal tackle prevented a certain crossing of the line.
Egremont then had a period of where they kept the ball and this resulted in a string of indiscretions by Eden that meant there were two yellow cards given out and the visitors had to play for a period with 13 men.
This tested Eden but from a series of route one drives by their forwards they eventually crashed over via Matt Allison near the posts to lead 24-0 at half-time.
The second half drifted for about the first 20 minutes with a lot of play employed between the two teams 22’s areas as both defences operated effectively keeping any serious attacks at bay. Finally, Egremont, after a prolonged period of powerful forward carries near the Eden line, were awarded a penalty try to record their first points.
This seemed to awake Eden into some action and resulted in the final scoring of the game with strong runs through the backs and forwards and a short dart from a ruck near the Egremont try line by Fin Rose to barge over.
This was a hard, well-fought match by both teams but Eden edged it with some more clinical attacking play and strong sound defence that was difficult to breakdown.
Cockermouth are closest to Upper Eden in the table, but are 15 points behind with a game in hand. Their promotion hopes depend on other Leagues at the same level to find the best runners-up.
They continued their winning form at home to Millom when they scored a 48-0 victory. It was described by one spectator as very physical, bordering on brutal at times while ton their credit Millom never gave up.”
Rather sadly all the scorers have not been reported but Dan Fielden certainly crossed twice while Adam Brough, Jonathan Astley and veteran Ian McDowell were also among the tries with Ed Gate doing the kicking.
Wigton had a very good 36-22 home win against Whitehaven in Conference 1 which proved to be a contrast in styles – Whitehaven’s physicality against Wigton’s youthful endeavour to move the ball wide.
Whitehaven had the wind in their favour and raced into a 10-0 lead. Lee Jones landed a penalty and then Zach Williams chased a kick through and touched down for the opening try which Jones converted.
When Wigton finally got some possession they scored a try through Richard Moffatt which was converted by Stuart Carruthers and then added a well-worked try off a penalty move by Stephen Harris, converted by Carruthers, to go 14-10 in front.
At the start of the second half Whitehaven’s big physical forwards had a good spell of pressure and they went back in front with a try from Adam Rothery which Jones converted.
Wigton continued to move the ball well and Billy Stafford found the space before executing a great pass for birthday boy Charlie Bell to score and celebrate his 18th in style.
Again in this fluctuating game Whitehaven came back and Sam Spooner scored a try from a charge down kick in the corner after Wigton failed to clear and they led 22-19.
Whitehaven then had a man sin-binned and Carruthers levelled the scores with a penalty.
Wigton’s fitness told in the end and they scored two late converted tries to seal the victory. Carruthers and Harris both crossed with Carruthers adding the extras.
There was only one game in Conference 2 in which Penrith A beat Creighton 22-0.
