Following last week’s narrow defeat to Aspatria, Wigton looked to bounce back at home against Guisborough.
In the end disruption to the selected team due to injuries led to a slow, ill-disciplined start which ultimately cost the greens, who went down 16-5.
They didn’t get out of the blocks until 35 minutes on the clock, by which time they had slipped 16 points behind.
From the kick-off Guisborough used their big forwards to try and gain ground but good defence meant they made little ground and the ball was slow.
Wigton gave away the first of a raft of stupid penalties on the half-way line under no pressure.
Guisborough kicked for the corner and their forwards produced a catch and drive to get the first try which was unconverted.
From the kick-off Wigton tackled well again, forcing a kick but it was knocked on and a scrum penalty then followed.
Another kick for the corner resulted in another driving maul and a try conceded to double the visitors’ lead.
Wigton couldn’t get any possession and build phases, and spilled passes while dropping kicks led to a frustrating period.
Luck was not with Wigton on the day as, following a kick, the touch judge raised his flag but the referee played on for several phases before awarding Guisborough a penalty.
They kicked it to lead 13-0 after 15 minutes and a long afternoon looked in store. Guisborough’s final points were from another kick at goal following an offside when Wigton dropped another long kick under no pressure.
That was the last of any attack Guisborough managed for the remaining 50 minutes.
Wigton had possession and field position for the rest of the game, but wrong options and dropped passes blunted the usual free-flowing attack.
Wigton were denied two tries when the defence held up the Greens attackers, resulting in a drop out from under the posts.
The attack was finally rewarded with a try when good build up play and off-loading allowed Stephen Harris to crash over.
The conversion was missed but was the last act of the game as the referee blew the whistle to end the game.
It was a very flat performance from Wigton against a physical Guisborough side. Discipline needs to improve drastically if the greens are going to win games at this level.
Next week they face a tough fixture away at Keswick, when they need to improve their discipline and cut out unforced errors to win games at this level.
