Aspatria’s winning streak extended to four games as a 22-14 victory was gained at the expense of Upper Eden.
The win leaves Aspatria comfortably positioned in the Regional 2 North league and they look capable of mounting achallenge against any side in this competition.
Upper Eden remained in contention for the whole game, never conceding an inch without a fight andy were unlucky to finish the game with nothing to show for their effort.
The key to Aspatria’s win was teamwork as the Black Reds are now a settled side with reasonable strength in every position.
It would be unfair to single out individuals but this said some of the pairings must be delighting coach Mike Scott.
The centre partnership of Guy Reed and Ryan Scott was excellent and in the forwards, the youthful second-row combination of Chris Graham and Riley Thwaites played a significant part in this victory.
As usual when playing at Upper Eden the game, at various times, endured bright sunshine, lashing rain plus a strong downfield breeze that at times became flat calm, everything but snow and no doubt that will feature as the season makes progress at Pennine Park.
Aspatria had the first opportunity to get a score on the board when a series of penalties conceded by the home side put Jack Clegg in range for a penalty attempt.
This went wide and Upper Eden used the 22 drop out to gain a hold in Aspatria territory. In hindsight, the following minutes were the best spell of the game for Upper Eden.
They went through the phases with great accuracy and simply ran the Aspatria defence ragged before Oli Rose seized on a gap to go under the posts and Oliver Bennett’s conversion established an early 7-0 lead.
Aspatria quickly regained position in the home half and a number of attacks on the line looked promising. One of these provided space for Clegg to dart in and dot down. Unfortunately, defenders closing in obscured the view of the referee and quite correctly he could not award the score.
Aspatria kept up the pressure, with the game now being played almost exclusively in and around the home 22. The home defence was tested to the limit but refused to buckle. Deep into the second quarter, it took Aspatria’s favourite weapon, the set scrum, to unlock the defence. Matthew Atkinson came off the back of a scrum going forward was simply unstoppable.
At 7-5 with 29 minutes gone it was still anyone’s game but in the final five minutes of the half Aspatria struck twice to gain some kind of superiority.
The first of two tries was one for the back division who stretched Upper Eden’s defence with attacks across the field. With the ball heading towards the right wing, Centre Ryan Scott came back at an angle that left defenders floundering, ending up between the posts.
Aspatria nosed in front but with the last play of the half recorded a third try. To Aspatria’s credit, they twice ignored an easy three point penalty attempt in the chase for a try and this boldness paid off.
The kick ignored, the scrum was set. Everyone expected a repeat from Atkinson and that is how it started but then play was cleverly switched to the onrushing Scott who went in for his second and handed the visitors a 19-7 half-time advantage.
Scott has been loaned back to Aspatria by Tynedale where he had moved at the start of the season.
The interval became a turning point in the game for Upper Eden. They came fast out of the traps and unsettled Aspatria from the opening whistle.
Within a few minutes, the home side had established an attacking field position close to the try line. For the first, and perhaps only time in the game, Aspatria defenders were falling off tackles and Upper Eden took full advantage with James Birkbeck scoring at the left corner flag and Bennett converted. At 14-19 it was most certainly game on.
On 55 minutes both sides were down to 14 after a minor altercation resulted in a pair of yellow cards. For Aspatria, it was the influential Atkinson who walked and with him went Eden’s Will Simpson.
Upper Eden from this point began to earn more than a fair share of possession but it was usually acquired in the home half and generally petered out in the face of a well-organised defence.
Aspatria’s attacks were not so frequent but looked decidedly more dangerous with a couple of moves floundering just inches from the line.
Despite the general play of both sides being good quality a stalemate was developing.
A Clegg penalty provided some breathing space for Aspatria but by and large the teams were cancelling each other out.
This was best illustrated with just five minutes left on the clock when Upper Eden gained a penalty position just inside the Aspatria half. A kick to the corner to set up a late comeback attempt appeared to be the best option but the lure of a losing bonus point proved hard to resist.
A tough goal kick was attempted with a predictable miss and from this point, there was no way back for the hard-working Eden side.
