Aspatria took the points in a fiercely fought local derby at Cockermouth by the narrowest of margins, 11-10.
One single move of quality conjured up by Aspatria in the second half turned out to be the only difference between the two combatants. For the rest of the 79 minutes, the game was very much a slugfest.
There was no lack of intent from the rival back divisions but two highly committed defences snuffed out any prospect of open, entertaining rugby.
In the opening period of the game, the visitors had the advantage of playing down the slope with a breeze at their backs.
Aspatria’s game plan looked solid as they pushed Cockermouth into the home 22 without achieving any reward despite a couple of good half chances to break the early deadlock.
Cockermouth weathered the early pressure in reasonable comfort and after defending well for 10 minutes began to turn the tables on Aspatria.
Around this time Aspatria lost influential No8 Greg Dickinson to injury but this did allow powerhouse forward, Mathew Atkinson to come off the subs bench for a first outing of the season following a leg injury.
The bulk of play had now transferred into the Aspatria half and Cockermouth’s abrasive style of play was clearly troubling the visitors.
Aspatria fullback Matthew Irving was yellow-carded in an increasingly desperate defensive effort. A series of penalties conceded by Aspatria kept Cockermouth in good field position to deliver a telling blow but at crucial moments handling errors let them down.
During this dominant period, Cockermouth’s forwards did manage to maul the ball over the line but Aspatria bodies got underneath and the referee delivered a held-up decision.
The pressure from Cockermouth was intense but a try would not come and with nearly 30 minutes played their patience evaporated and the home side settled for a penalty from Jake Moore to take a 3-0 lead which became the half-time score.
Noting their share of possession and superior field position Cockermouth would be disappointed to hold such a slender advantage at halftime but they did have the better of the playing conditions to look forward to.
Aspatria benefitted from the break. In the early minutes, it was clear that they had regained composure. Ball retention improved markedly for the visitors and the penalty count began to turn against Cockermouth as they tried, sometimes too desperately, to wrest possession from their opponents.
On 52 minutes Aspatria’s back division finally showed that they were not only about defence but able to break down Cockermouth.
The move began just inside home territory and involved good movement by all in the Aspatria backline. Jack Clegg at stand-off engineered the first gap with a missed-out pass that brought fullback Matthew Irving into the early stage of the attack and it was the same player who had the strength to wrestle the ball over the line and finish the job, handing
Aspatria a narrow lead.
With the game moving into the final quarter, Aspatria were now dominating field position but were still far from delivering a knockout blow. Under pressure, Cockermouth took the lead on conceding penalties.
Aspatria took a pragmatic approach to this indiscipline with Clegg turning two of these into another six points.
Into the final 10 minutes, the game evolved into a very tense affair. Cockermouth dug deep, dredged up an injection of energy and set about trying to get something from the game. The home side began to increase their share of possession but were usually playing from deep into what looked a solid Aspatria defensive block.
The Aspatria wall held but was creaking and being pushed back into the 22. In the defensive effort, Aspatria went down to 14 men as back row Lewis Barwise took a yellow card.
The clock was against Cockermouth but in the final minute the home pack would not be denied and they rolled over in the
left corner for skipper James Hunter to touch down leaving a difficult conversion for Moore which got a huge roar from the home crowd as the kick split the posts to bring the score back to 10-11.
A deserved losing bonus point for Cockermouth but was there more joy to come? The referee signalled that there was time to restart but it would be the last play of the game.
Aspatria went deep with the re-start kick and set up a 14 man wall across the pitch. Cockermouth had no choice but to try and run the ball out of defence.
They did so with passion but nothing worked and after several phases, Aspatria turned the ball over and were able to celebrate victory.
After congratulating Aspatria on their narrow victory Cockermouth head coach Chris Wright acknowledge the rapid improvement being made by his team who had c0ollected their first point of the season in Regional 2 North.
Wright said: “As always the commitment and pure effort from the Wasps players was outstanding.
“It was also fantastic to see another young man who has developed through the club’s player development pathway, plus two quality years with Penrith Colts, make a superb senior debut.
“Ollie Swain was chosen by sponsors W Lindsay and sons Ltd as the Cockermouth man of the match, who was pushed all the way by our second debutant Jamie Preston who ran the show in a quality first appearance.”
