Littleborough 36 Hawcoat Park 3

HAWCOAT Park suffered a heavy defeat against relegation rivals Littleborough, as the home side exacted revenge for the previous week’s loss in Barrow.

The 36-3 defeat means Littleborough leapfrog Hawcoat, who are now third-bottom of the North Lancs/Cumbria League table with three matches remaining.

Playing on a heavy pitch, the sides tested each other out with strong drives in the early stages, but both defences stood firm and refused to buckle under the pressure.

Midway through the half, the Rochdale side opened the scoring with an unconverted try, before Park’s stand-in captain George Smith got the visitors on the board with a 30 metre penalty goal.

Hawcoat then enjoyed a good spell in the build-up to half-time without being able to make the pressure count.

Clean breaks were made by Danny White, Mike Lightfoot and Chris Burns and despite excellent support play by Scott Garnett and James Howden – making his 200th first-team appearance for the Maroon and Whites – but they were not converted into touchdowns.

Park were made to pay as Littleborough really cranked up the pressure and intensity in the second half.

They dominated possession and territory, with Park’s only real chance of note coming when Blain Marwood got close to touching down from a kick through.

Unlike Hawcoat had been in the first half, Littleborough were clinical with their finishing and they soon made it 12-3 with a converted score.

Four further tries followed for the home side, as Littleborough underlined their overall dominance with some clinical finishing.