Aspatria chasing down second place in North Lancs Cumbria

With Carlisle clear at the top of the league, Aspatria’s task is now to chase down second place and secure a play-off spot that might still deliver promotion.

This 11-try haul helped morale but, with close rivals De La Salle and Wigton also posting comfortable wins, the Black Reds remain in third place.

Despite conceding a bag full of tries, Trafford played a full part in this highly entertaining encounter and showed enough resolve to suggest they might just steer clear of the league relegation zone.

With just three minutes gone, second rower Liam Ridley’s rampaging run took Aspatria deep into Trafford territory and, from a resulting scrum 15 metres out, the home pack shunted the opposite numbers back to the try line, where only an illegal intervention prevented a touchdown. The subsequent penalty try award was converted.

Trafford came back to reduce the arrears with two penalties from Pat Eccles and, for a spell, they looked sharp with the ball in hand.

Aspatria’s second score proved to be a major turning point after a superb dart from winger Jack Robinson out of his own half.

He released Matthew Atkinson who combined well with Grant Bethwaite before crashing over in the corner. The conversion followed from Jack Clegg, who finished with nine successful kicks.

From this point, tries flowed at regular intervals as a large crowd enjoyed the enterprise shown by both sides.

Aspatria’s third came on 25 minutes. Clegg showed good awareness to take a quick tap penalty on halfway and get the Trafford defence back peddling.

Prop Ian McDowell linked with scrum-half Jason Ward to shred the remaining defence and put Bethwaite in.

The bonus point fourth try was secured almost immediately by full-back Lee Tinnion, who took possession from a hopeful kick into Aspatria territory.

He used his bulk to shed off attempted tackles as an arcing run took him from the home 22 to the right corner flag.

Trafford’s time in possession was now being severely limited but, when they had the ball, there was a real willingness to attack.

This paid dividends as the half petered out with Eccles able to take advantage of two more penalty opportunities.

That is how the half should have finished but Trafford made a complete mess of the restart and virtually handed the ball back to the on-rushing Atkinson.

The gift was accepted and, after Ward made good yards towards the try line, the ball was taken over by centre Scott Akehurst to end the half at 35-12.

As if joining in the fun, the second period started with Aspatria gifting Trafford possession as they moved forward in numbers.

There was no defence from Aspatria and the visitors had their first try of the day with less than a minute played.

This did not last long as Aspatria’s pack retaliated when an excellent burst of pace by James Ravell down the right touchline put Aspatria in sight of the try line.

This set up a scrum on five metres, which Aspatria used with Atkinson touching down.

For Black Reds supporters, there is no finer spectacle than number eight Gary Hodgson in full cry and his incisive running has been a miss in recent weeks.

Aspatria were running the defence ragged and Hodgson, lurking in the centre of the field, feinted to pass and then took the opportunity to dash through the gap created for the seventh Aspatria try.

Within ten minutes of Hodgson’s try, Aspatria scored another two and at least a further three went begging.

That this did not become an avalanche of points is down to the sheer grit and determination shown by Trafford whose last-ditch defence was at times magnificent.

Back rower Jono Burnyeat touched down on 56 minutes and this was followed by a Robinson score on 63 minutes to cap his man-of-the-match performance.

In the last 10 minutes, Trafford’s resilience earned a deserved reward with a second try.

Aspatria responded immediately at the other end of the pitch when a poor clearing kick ended in the arms of Akehurst who danced and jinked his way over the line to restore the point’s differential.

More excitement and pure rugby theatre followed when, with only four minutes left on the clock, Trafford broke away and registered a third try.

The significance of this score was not lost on them as they knew that one last effort might just deliver a valuable point.

Trafford threw the kitchen sink at Aspatria and a hole appeared in the home defence to allow a Trafford man to charge towards the sticks with only the full-back to beat but had no-one in support.

As if to show how it should be done, Aspatria finished with a flourish.

This time, it was Atkinson charging towards the line with a man to beat. The difference being that Atkinson had on his shoulder the hard-working Ridley who galloped under the posts to end the game.

Nine points behind Trafford are both Upper Eden and Silloth with Workington three points further back on the bottom.

Silloth and Upper Eden met at the Jim Brough Rugby Park, where the home side gave themselves a boost with a 19-13 victory.

A penalty near the end secured what could be an important bonus point for Upper Eden who host Silloth this weekend.

The Kirkby Stephen side had gone ahead with a converted try before Luke Baker got over for Silloth.

A penalty extended the Upper Eden lead but Silloh got their noses in front when Matthew Burn scored his first try for the club, converted by Ricky Holt.

Ricky Sutcliffe, injured for most of the season, got back in the groove with the third try, converted by Holt.

Time was running out when Upper Eden settled for the bonus point by kicking a penalty.

Without it, they would have been a point behind Silloth in the table.