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With only
the league to concentrate on Ashton Bears were determined to finish
their remaining games with wins, starting with the visit of Walney
Central to
Bear
Park
. Ashton started in positive a manner, the forwards, and especially man
of the match, Neil Ireland making rampaging runs at the heart of the
Cumbria
defence. With this pressure came the inevitable opening try. Following
good strong runs from Kieran Spruce and Brent Knox, Alex Peet took the
ball from acting half back to barge his way over the line. Ashton were
soon on the scoreboard again when a half break from Alex Peet saw him
offload to Chris Rothwell who weaved his way through the defence before
passing to John Hughes who finished in style. The compliment was
returned for the next try when the impressive John Hughes broke through
the scrambling defence, and slipped an inside ball to Chris Rothwell,
who was growing in confidence with every passing minute, to score under
the post. Not to be outdone the forwards were next on the score sheet
when, from first receiver, Kevin Howells, who has been impressive when
coming off the bench, took the ball 30 yards out and scattered the
defence on his way to the line. Right on the stroke of half time Ashton
moved the ball straight from a scrum to the other flank and when Scott
Hughes produced a wonderful ball to Paul Murphy, the winger just
managed to go in at the corner.
To their credit, Walney never gave up and held Ashton for most of the
second half, and it took an inspirational break from Dave Picton, who
weaved his way through the defence then offload to Andy Bailey to
finally break their resolve. Dave Picton was successful with three
conversions.
The good news for Ashton was the defeat of Haydock at Widnes Moorfield
which throws the league title race wide open.
Ashton
Tries - Alex Peet, John Hughes, Chris Rothwell, Kevin Howells, Paul
Murphy, Andy Bailey
Ashton
Goals - Dave Picton 3
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