Hawcoat Park RU fail to build on good start as Aspatria sneak home

A FIGHTBACK from 17 points down by the visitors saw Hawcoat Park narrowly thwarted in their efforts to add to their solitary win and climb off the bottom of the North Lancs/Cumbria League.

The home side could hardly have asked for a better start against fellow Cumbrians Aspatria, with a 30-metre carry from Adam Grainger leading to a penalty which was slotted over by Will Coles after 10 minutes.

Then five minutes later, a loose ball was snapped up by winger Rodney Odondi, who beat his opposite number and raced away to score from 60 metres out, followed by Coles adding the extras.

It then needed Hawcoat’s defence to come to the fore, with back row trio Grady Slater, Joe Rea and man of the match Alfie White stepping up whenever they were required.

Having seen out this spell of pressure, the Maroon and Whites turned defence into attack and were rewarded with a second converted try on the half-hour mark, with Blain Marwood finishing off a move involving half-backs Jonny Burrows and James Howden, and Chris Burns.

Aspatria rallied though and picked up their intensity, scoring two unconverted tries before half-time; the first coming when the ball was moved out wide and the second when visiting skipper Martin Atkinson forced his way over.

The second half proved a much tenser affair, with Aspatria using their size advantage to get the better of the scrum, while the likes of Lewis Sayle and Marwood came up with some important tackles in defence for Hawcoat.

But the home side’s resolve was again broken by Atkinson after an hour when he barged his way through for a third unconverted score.

A penalty from 35 metres out then allowed Aspatria to score what would prove to be the winning score, with the away side managing to thwart Hawcoat’s efforts to snatch victory in the closing stages of the game.

Despite the defeat, Hawcoat took plenty of positives from the game, such as White’s performance and stand-in skipper Andy Kent playing the full 80 minutes at prop, plus the returns of Paul Woodburn and Ryan Milner after lengthy spells out injured.

They will aim to take those into this Saturday’s game away to De La Salle.