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Ashton
brought their early season league form into this important and
challenging cup tie. They eventually came through, showing grit and
determination, to overcome a strong Rylands outfit and book a place in
the last eight of the Lancashire Cup. After the early exchanges it was
Rylands who took the lead with a well executed try, however Ashton hit
back when a quick break from behind the scrum saw Andy Bailey race
through the defence to score. With the Ashton pack, especially big John
Winder, starting to dominate it wasn’t long before they took the
lead. A great little run from man of the match, Dave Picton, who picked
out Steven Naylor, the winger racing fifty yards to score. This time it
was Rylands who had to come back and on the stroke of half time they
scored to make it 12-10 to Ashton.
The second half was only minutes old when Ashton went further ahead
through the boot of the ever busy full back, Matty Melling. The game
was getting tenser and Rylands hit back with two unconverted tries that
seemed to have swung the game their way. However, with Ashton’s never
say die attitude and with time running out they scored the all
important try when big Phil Collier acrobatically plucked the ball out
of the air following another superb break from Dave Picton, to crash
over and with Matty Melling kicking his third conversion, the match and
a splendid victory was Ashton’s, 20-18.
Ashton
tries - Andy Bailey (23 mins), Steven Naylor (30 mins), Phil
Collier (78 mins)
Ashton
Goals - Matty Melling (4)
Top
tackler - Peter Shaw (34)
Top
Hit-ups - John Winder (15)
Man of
the Match - Dave Picton
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