Wigton Colts welcomed top of the table Novos to Lowmoor Road with the visitors fresh from winning the Northumberland Cup last week and looking to make it a league and cup double.
They were given an enormous fright from a committed young Greens side who could and should have won this tight encounter but Novos went home with a 36-29 victory.
Following early pressure on their line, and good defence, Wigton broke up-field through Will Long. He burst a couple of tackles and got his hands free to off-load to the supporting Euan Fletcher who showed great pace to finish off under the posts with Eddie Miller converting.
From the re-start Wigton got turned over and pressure was turned into an unconverted try.
Both sides were favouring some tight drives to tighten the defence, before trying to move the ball into space out wide. Novos scored a second converted try and Miller landed a penalty for Wigton before the visitors scored on the stroke of half time to go in ahead by 17-10.
At the start of the second half Wigton forwards got on top and Connor Sinkinson crashed over from close range with Miller converting to tie the scores.
Novos showed why they are top of the league with the next converted try being scored by the winger following good inter play, but their next score was a more contentious effort, with the Novos winger claiming a try following a kick chase, despite it appearing to be grounded by the Wigton player first.
This roused the Wigton team and they responded by dominating the next ten minutes with territory and possession, but could only score a converted try through Fletcher when more opportunities were created.
With the score at 24-29, the home players sensed an upset but with four minutes left Novos scored their last unconverted try to seal the game.
But there was still time left for Wigton to go up-field and score a try through Jude Wilkinson to leave the Greens just a converted try short at 29-36.
This was Wigton’s best performance of the season and the Novos’ coaching staff were very relieved at the end of the game to get the win.
