In another day of mixed results for Cumbrian teams in the National Conference League, Wath Brow Hornets, Distington, Hensingham and Millom all took wins and added two points to their league tallies, but there were defeats for Kells, Egremont Rangers, Barrow Island and Ellenborough Rangers, writes Ben Challis.
After last weekend’s pause in fixtures for the Challenge Cup Finals in London, a wet and windy Saturday afternoon heralded a positive return to form for Wath Brow, who bounced back from a painful away defeat in their last game at Thatto Heath Crusaders with an emphatic 32-12 win over York Acorn in the Premier Division at Geil Park.
The win came thanks to a hat trick of tries from Morgan McCourt and one apiece for Craig Murphy, Peter Caddy and Fran King, with Greg Rooney kicking three goals and Mark Watson adding one more, with the Brow leapfrogging their opponents to move up to fifth sport in the table.
It was less good news in Division One, with Kells falling to a 10-28 home defeat to Heworth, the home side’s tries from James Ennis and Joe Moore with one Ross Gainford conversion, and Egremont losing out 46-14 away at Oldham St Annes, Egremont and Kells sit in seventh and eighth spot in the table respectively with ten games played.
In Division Two, Hensingham picked up a very good 12-28 win away at Thornhill Trojans thanks to tries from Man of the Match Fletcher Holgate, Reuben Butterworth, Miller Dalton and Luke Charlton, and six goals from Adam Williamson.
Barrow Island went down 8-16 at home to Dewsbury Celtic, and Ellenborough lost out 16-28 at home to Skirlaugh despite tries from Zac Olstrom, Olly Bibby and Luke Broster, and two Brett Stevenson goals.
Hensingham now sit in fifth spot, Barrow Island are eighth and Ellenborough are propping up the table in 12th place with just one win from 11 games played.
In Division Three both Distington and Millom both picked up wins. Millom edged a narrow 18-14 victory over Beverley with the Woollybacks defence critical to the win, and outstanding performances from Rio Walker, Jude Lupton, Dom O’Brien and Tom Askew.
After a drubbing away at Featherstone Lions two weeks ago, Distington had a satisfying if hard fought home win over second placed Keighley Albion.
In a close and grinding first half Distington took the lead through a Bryan Richie try and a Kieran Worthington conversion, and despite Callum Fox having a touch down chalked off for a forward pass in the build up, the home side had a 6-0 lead at half time.
In a bad tempered second half, Scott George’s kicking game proved vital for Distington, and as the rain came hammering down, the Cumbrians went 14-0 up thanks to two tries from Jack Penrice and Kyle Jenkinson, before George missed a goal from a penalty awarded after a high tackle on Robbie Worthington.
As the game went on, an ill disciplined Albion earned a flurry of yellow cards from referee Kevin Brown, but managed to cross for a late try which gave the scoreline some respectability.
After nine games played, Millom sit in seventh spot and Distington eighth place in the table, equal on points with each other and with sixth placed Leigh East, all now six points clear of the bottom pair of Beverley and Milford.
