Millom 24 Leigh East 16

THE sun was shining in Millom as the Woollybacks managed to build on last week’s victory over Salford City Roosters to take the points against Leigh East.

It was Millom who kicked proceedings off in this National Conference Division Two clash, and they took early control when Ethan Kelly managed to barge his way over the line from close range after just five minutes. Lee Postlethwaite added the conversion.

Five minutes later, and Millom were over again when Ricky Donoghue produced a smart kick to the right corner where Jordan Moyes was waiting to touch down for his second try in as many games. Postlethwaite faced a tricky conversion but the winger managed it and Millom led 12-0 after 12 minutes.

Millom continued to dominate the early encounters and it wasn’t long before they crossed again. This time Donoghue turned finisher as he side-stepped a few defenders before crossing underneath the sticks, and Postlethwaite added the extras.

It took until the 30th minute for the away side to respond when Adam Holland took a smart offload and crossed near the sticks. Tom Worthington added the extras.

And it wasn’t long before the visitors crossed again when their man of the match Pat Rainford followed his own kick up and scored.

But Millom increased their lead on 39 minutes when Lee Postlethwaite kicked a penalty goal and it was 20-10 at half-time.

The second half was lacking in terms of action compared to the first half, with both teams not really threatening each other’s lines as they both looked for that vital score.

It was the visitors who managed the breakthrough, on 64th minutes, when Pat Rainford broke from dummy half and this time he was the creator as he offloaded to Chris Penn who ran another 40 metres to cross. Tom Worthington converted to cut the lead to four points.

Millom now needed to find a response and they found one when on 74 minutes Ian Armstrong crossed the whitewash with a hard drive to the line. Postlethwaite couldn’t convert but Millom held out for victory. Man of the match for Millom went to Ethan Kelly.