Last updated at 06:13, Friday, 27 November 2009

WORKINGTON Zebras’ North Lancs Cumbria league win over Fleetwood has been confirmed but not by the 27-3 it finished.

FLASHBACK: Line-out action from the Zebras v Fleetwood game, the result of which has been confirmed in Zebras’ favour

The game finished with uncontested scrums for the last 18 minutes with Fleetwood short of front row men.

Two converted tries for the West Cumbrians in the final quarter of an hour gave the scoreline a look which reflected the state of play but because they scored when the game was using uncontested scrums the result will be capped at 13-3.

Workington Steelers lost 38-5 in the only Cumbria League game played at the weekend.

They fought hard against a strong Millom side who are chasing leaders Whitehaven and face a showdown with the Playground side tomorrow.

John McCrickard scored the Workington try in the first half when they trailed 19-5 at the break.

Ben Lanigan, coming back from a broken hand, pepped up the Steelmen and they made it hard for Millom, especially in the first half.

Millom gradually made their experience and strength tell and scored three second-half tries without reply.

Gavin McQuire scored two tries and the others came from James Wilson, Craig Mounsey, Chris Park and Peter Redhead. Four of the tries were converted by Danny Redhead.

Young scrum-half Sam Carter was awarded the man of the match award for the Steelmen.

Cumbria League matches at Aspatria, Creighton, Egremont and Gosforth were postponed.

Wigton consolidated their place at the top of the North Lancs Cumbria with a 31-0 win at struggling Burnley.

As one of only two games played in the section, the Lowmoor Road side were able to extend their lead over second-placed Kirkby Lonsdale to three points.

Originally it should have been a free Saturday, so a number of Wigton players had made other arrangements, which meant seven regulars were unavailable.

David Warwick, Tom Gardner, Tane Manihera, David Waning, Steve Carruthers, Sean Stephens and John Story were all absentees so Andrew Logue, Chris Pattinson, Kofi Barnes, David Thompson, Steve Green, Russell McLean and Paul Vickers came in.

The conditions were atrocious, driving rain and gale-force winds – the worst Wigton had experienced this season – yet the pitch stood up to it well.

Burnley went bottom, below Netherhall, with this result but for the first 25 minutes they competed well and made a contest of it. They proved very resilient and dogged in defence.

The opening try came on 25 minutes when the Wigton backs moved the ball smartly along the line for Andrew Logue to score in the corner. John Wright converted from the touchline.

Young Vickers, the Colts scrum-half from last season, was always prominent for Wigton and showed his potential with some lively, probing play and excellent field kicking.

It was Vickers who created the second try with a clever off-load to put Calum Studholme in for an unconverted try.

There should have been more points for Wigton by half-time but when David Hanabury made a great break the supporting Wright dropped the pass with the line at his mercy. Then it was Hanabury who put down a pass when a scoring chance beckoned, but the greasy ball was often dropped throughout the game.

Wigton expected to find it hard in the second half when they played against the elements but they coped well, with the forwards putting in a particularly strong stint.

The Greens had to make a change after 55 minutes when James Brough suffered an ankle injury and was replaced by Andy Brown, who quickly made his presence felt by earning two turnovers.

On 58 minutes they scored again when the lively Vickers off-loaded well again to send the marauding Mark Deans galloping over from 20 yards, Wright converted.

Deans was a strong contender for the man of the match award but was just pipped in the end by fellow forward skipper Matthew Atkinson.

The Cumbrians brought-on McLean for his senior debut, replacing the hard-working Deans, and on 71 minutes they scored again.

Hanabury and Vickers linked well and Chris Pattinson provided an excellent pass for Brown, backing up well, to race 30 metres for a try which Wright converted.

A minute from time Wright completed the scoring for Wigton with an unconverted try, again following good work by Vickers.

In the closing quarter Wigton had nine players under the age of 21 on the pitch and four of them were members of last season’s U18 squad.

Keswick’s away match at Aldwinians was postponed as was St Benedict’s home encounter with Furness. Upper Eden lost 10-8 at home to Eccles.

Below are tomorrow’s fixtures but because of the weather fans are advised to check with their clubs to see if games are still on.

Fixtures – North Lancs Cumbria: Keswick v Wigton, St Benedict’s v Netherhall, Workington v Eccles.

North One West: Aspatria v Sandbach.

Cumbria: Egremont v Aspatria Eagles, Gosforth Greengarth v Wigton Wanderers, Millom v Whitehaven, Moresby v Workington Steelers.

First published at 19:21, Thursday, 26 November 2009
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk