Hawcoat Park 39 Wigton 10

HAWCOAT Park moved six points clear of the North Lancs/Cumbria League bottom two courtesy of a 39-10 victory at home to Wigton, despite being down to 13 men at one point.

Going into the match with one of their strongest squads for some time, the Maroon and Whites turned in a solid, workmanlike performance to score an important win.

The visitors made a strong start, yet came up against strong defence, from vice-captain Andy Kent and number eight Alfie White in particular.

Good kicking from fly-half George Smith kept Wigton pinned back, and Hawcoat made good use of their line-out, setting up drives which resulted in two similar tries; the first from John Donnan and the second from Mike Lightfoot, converted by Smith.

Seventh-placed Wigton fought back and made a long spell of pressure count when one of their back-rowers forced his way over out wide for an unconverted score.

Park returned to making the most of their dominance at the line-out, and this yielded a third try on the half-hour mark, with man-of-the-match Ash Mowat shoved over the line for another converted score.

Wigton replied again, and on the strong of half-time moved the ball out wide for their centre to run through for another unconverted try, making it 19-0 to the home side at the break.

Hawcoat were quick out of the blocks when play resumed, and they moved further ahead 15 minutes in as good work from Ryan Milner and James Howden led to Blain Marwood racing away for the bonus-point try, which Smith duly converted.

However, two quick yellow cards for White and Glen Kaighan – the first for a technical offence and the second for a deliberate knock-on – temporarily had Hawcoat down to 13 men.

Wigton were unable to add to their tally, and there was still time for the hosts to increase theirs, with strong running from Grady Slater, followed by the Sayle brothers, Lewis and Matt, combining for a try which Smith converted.