In a ding-dong game at Bower Park Aspatria registered a much needed 29-22 home victory against local rivals Carlisle.
The five points earned moves Aspatria one place up the table to 8th but there is now a healthy gap between them and the two relegation slots.
Carlisle took two deserved bonus points back to the city to cement a mid-table league but early on it promised so much more.
They had started much the brighter of the two teams, and the home side were forced on to the back foot right from the off.
A line-out deep in Aspatria’s 22, gave Carlisle a chance to put their rolling maul to good effect and hooker Tom Graham was there at the back to dive over in the corner for Carlisle’s first try after seven minutes.
The expected response from Aspatria did not materialise. It was an error-strewn period of play for the home side with Carlisle taking full advantage of several instances of poor ball retention.
After 15 minutes Graham was there again as a five metre line-out gave him the chance to dive down the blindside and over in the same corner to extend the lead to 10-0. He wasn’t giving any favours to kicker Jason Israel who was having no luck with conversions from the touchline in the swirling wind.
Carlisle were dominating the home side in territory and possession, and even when Aspatria managed to put some phases together, they were eventually getting on the wrong side of the visiting referee.
Two minutes later from a penalty inside the Aspatria half, a 22 metre line-out gave Carlisle another chance to put the Aspatria defence under pressure.
From the line-out, second row Alfie Batty spotted a yawning chasm in the home defence and gambled through for Carlisle’s third try, this time giving Israel a decent chance of a conversion to make it 17-0.
Aspatria were on the precipice of a collapse and needed something. They got this through the on-field leadership of two senior players. Captain Jack Gaskell was nothing short of inspirational in galvanising the forward effort into something recognisable.
Behind the pack Gaskell had Jack Clegg playing in his 400th game for the Black Reds to settle the backline and bring them back into the game.
Carlisle still looked good with ball in hand and only some scramble defence by Aspatria managed to keep Carlisle away from their bonus point try.
However, Aspatria at long last began to test the Carlisle defence. Nothing immediate came from this until the final minutes of the half. The home side managed a sustained period of pressure on the try line and came close with a couple of forward thrusts before the ball went wide left where winger Guy Reed had room to crash over at the corner flag.
Against the wind few anticipated Matty Irving’s conversion to succeed but it reached the bar and bounced over to end the half 17-7 in Carlisle’s favour.
Into the second half and although behind on the scoreboard Aspatria now had the advantage of a stiff wind at their backs.
Throughout the half Ed Gate at stand-off and others would use this wisely to relieve pressure and improve field position.
An early scoring opportunity came Carlisle’s way with five minutes played when Aspatria conceded a penalty more or less in front of the posts. To the surprise of many Carlisle turned down the shot and went for the jugular.
The gamble failed. Aspatria took a more pragmatic approach and a few minutes later when a similar opportunity presented itself the assured boot of Irving closed the gap to seven points.
On 55 minutes the comeback was complete. The general move started in the Aspatria half and was superbly finished by Gate. It was a flowing move involving several ball interchanges and Gate was involved in three of these phases before delivering the final blow. Irving’s conversion was good to level the scores.
Carlisle were far from ready to give up the ghost and responded with a testing period of play close to the Aspatria line. There followed a period of pick and gos near the try line from Carlisle which Aspatria defended well, though eventually infringed again.
However, Israel’s penalty attempt just drifted past the upright, and Aspatria seemed to draw energy from this.
The lead was achieved on 61 minutes with a classic counter-attack. Aspatria broke up a Carlisle attacking move in the home 22. From the scramble that followed, second row Riley Thwaites got hands on the ball and raced downfield.
Thwaites’ release to the back line was accurate and centre Ryan Scott did further damage before handing to winger Reed to go over.
Another try soon followed. Aspatria secured possession from a line-out ten metres out and moved the ball close to the line where back-row Jamie Lightfoot took over and broke through the last two defenders.
Carlisle looked a little shell-shocked as they were facing a 17-29 deficit with barely ten minutes left on the clock. Credit to the players they just rolled up their sleeves and dug deep to get back into Aspatria’s red zone, with Israel eventually crashing over for the fourth try, narrowing the deficit to a one score game at 22-29,
It was a relief to home supporters that the conversion was missed as few in the watching crowd had yet ruled out a Carlisle comeback. The try provided a bonus point for the visitors and also a losing point.
