After a tough run of fixtures Maryport returned to winning ways when they beat Kells A 32-12.
Maryport had lost narrowly to Wath Brow in the Amateur Cup and then to Lowca in the League, but didn’t want to slide to a third successive defeat.
It didn’t look good early on as Kells started really well but by half-time the visitors had responded to lead 18-6.
They continued their domination in the second-half and thoroughly deserved their victory.
Jamie Jennings and Tyrone Dalton scored the Kells tries with Ross Gainford adding the two goals.
For Maryport there were tries from Sam Forrester (2), Carl Steele (2) and Joel Baker, all converted by man of the match Blake Miller who added a penalty near the end.
Man of the match for Kells was Dan Starkie and their coach Jonathan Wignall said: “After an excellent start we were out-enthused by a tough Maryport side who were superbly marshalled around the field.
“It was a really disappointing result that we must learn from and we look forward to rectifying some issues in training this week before we travel to Hensingham for the Amateur Cup semi-final on Friday.
“We are a young side who will hopefully continue to improve.”
Maryport coach Mark Foster was delighted to get back into winning ways after a particularly tough run of fixtures.
“I was particularly happy with the team’s attitude towards defending. For the first ten minutes we couldn’t get into the game but gradually took over and scored two particularly good tries in an 18-6 half-time lead.
“Credit to Kells, they are a talented young side with a couple of old heads who steer them round, and they got it back to 18-12. But we dug in again and pulled away for a win that hopefully gets us back into it.”
The top four candidates at this early stage have looked like Wath Brow, Kells, Lowca and Maryport but provided they can get their best team out watch for Cockermouth.
Certainly that’s the message from Mark Ridley, the Aspatria Hornets chairman after his side had been crushed 94-12 at Highfield.
“In my opinion this Titans team were the strongest we have faced this year. They built an early lead and were able to play champagne rugby on the back of that.
“Credit to all our players for putting their bodies on the line and we did manage to score two tries.”
The Titans scored 17 tries, 13 of which were converted by their man of the match Regan Tinnion.
Touching down were Ryan Scott (4), Ben Irving (2), Grant Law (2), Alex Butterworth (2), Spencer Fulton (2), Matty Irving, Cameron Harrison, Ethan Cross, Alex Barton and Owen Harrison.
Aspatria, who had trailed 38-6 at the break scored tries through Brad Thomson and Ben Tootill, who landed the conversions.,
Aspatria’s Ridley concluded his thoughts on the game by ending on a positive note – “I’d just like to say a big well done to Ellis Holliday for making his England Lions Under-16s debut and scoring a try.”
Liam McAvoy, the Cockermouth coach, said: “What we achieved was built on good defence which is what we’ve been working on.
“That gives us the opportunity to attack and we have some outstanding players to do that in lads like Ryan Scott and Regan Tinnion.
“We have been getting good numbers for training and it’s great that my dad is back involved. He used to coach he second team 30 years ago.”
Hensingham A came out on top against visitors Flimby after a tight first-half. They led 18-10 at the break and ended winners 42-20.
Hensingham coach Chris Crowe said: “It was a really tight first half against a big physical Flimby side who had a very strong pack.
“We had a great mix of youth and experience with five Under-17s playing plus a couple of good older lads.
“In the second-half Hensingham scored some really expansive tries, going edge to edge with some great ball movement on a warm night – which was the difference in the end.
“Flimby kept pushing throughout the 80 minutes and that showed in them scoring the very last try of the game.
“Jesse Joe Parker, in his final game of rugby, had a real bad injury but after getting taped back up went on and scored an individual try which only he could have scored.
“All at Hensingham would like to thank him for all his work and effort over the years on the field.”
Flimby’s Ricky Morris said: “It was a really tight first half which could have gone either way but Hensingham took the opportunities and made them count.
“For us Grant Underwood and Lee McGarr made great yards in attack while Kieran Johnson and Gary Steele were solid in defence. I was happy with our performance as a team and I can see the improvements made by the lads.
“Credit to referee Kevin Brown for letting the game flow and good luck to Hensingham for the rest of the season.
The Hensingham tries were scored by man of the match Callum Morgan (2), Danny Stables Stephen Hodgson, Jesse Joe Parker Ollly Dunn, Travis Fyfe, Jaylen Conway and Henley Donnan. Fyfe kicked three goals.
The Flimby tries were scored by Nathan Kirkbride (2), Rhys Booty and Grant Underwood with two goals from Dan Weir. Adam Tyson was awarded their man of the match.
There was a good, competitive game in the south of the county where Askam overcame visitors Egremont A 38-22.
The Askam tries were scored by seven different players (always a good sign) while Lewis Stables kicked five goals. The tries were scored by Joey Blowers, Luke Bolton, Luke McIntee, Rob Cockayne, Oliver Guest, Lucas James and Liam Somerville.
Egremont responded with tries from Mike Beatson, Craig Birkett, Nathan Preston and Jordan Moyes, who landed three goals.
Marley Johnson was man of the match for Askam while Anas Alsebaei took the nomination for Egremont.
Askam coach Chris Broadley said: “It was a good performance against a young and enthusiastic Egremont side who kept going to the end.
“It was a massive improvement on our last game against Kells. We had worked on certain things from that game and had clearly taken them on board.
“We have a few knocks at the moment but have a week off to rest up so we should be ready to resume in a fortnight.”
