HAWCOAT Park defied the wind and the rain to record their first win of the season courtesy of a 20-14 victory at home to Upper Eden in Cumbria League One.

The hosts started strongly and were able to apply some early pressure but Eden showed their defensive qualities which would come to the fore at several points during the game.

Skipper George Smith then missed a difficult penalty attempt in the 10th minute, but the Maroon & Whites were eventually able to unlock Eden’s defence for the first points of the match on the quarter-hour mark.

Returning back row pair Matty Sayle and Jason Priss got the attack going with some hard running, followed by James Howden recycling the ball for Scott Kaighan to send Ryan Clegg over out wide with a ranging pass to the wing.

Smith converted from the touchline and then added a penalty from 30 metres out to put Hawcoat 10 points up.

Upper Eden rallied after this though and were back in the game with a converted try on 25 minutes which saw their two centres combine to finish.

However, Hawcoat pushed further ahead just before half time when some good link-up play between full-back Benji Platt and fly-half Kaighan saw Elliott McDermott attack down the right wing, followed by passing back inside for Kaighan to set up Chris Burns for an unconverted score.

That put Park 15-7 up at the interval and further pressure inside the opening 10 minutes of the second half led to them scoring their third try.

Good drives by Adam Grainger and Mat Robinson put Upper Eden on the back foot before Mike Lightfoot slipped a neat pass to vice-captain Andy Kent to force his way over for another unconverted score and a 13-point lead.

The rest of the match was all Eden though and for the majority of the time they had Hawcoat pinned in their own 22.

Jack Sutherland and Brad Morrow put huge shifts in during this period, while collective last-ditch tackling kept the visitors at bay too.

However, the sin-binnings of John Donnan and Chris Burns meant Hawcoat would be down to 13 for the closing stages, and this told when defensive numbers ran out and the away side got the ball down for a converted try.

But despite that, Park had done enough to earn their first win of the season and close the gap on the teams above them in the standings.

Hawcoat A had been due to host Blackburn’s third team in North West Counties Intermediate League Division Four North, but were given a home walkover by their opponents.