Moor lose top of table clash at Wigton

Arriving half an hour later than planned due to a hold-up on the motorway, Moor’s warm-up for this crucial top-of-the-table game against league leaders Wigton was somewhat curtailed and as a result, the start time was put back by 10 minutes. Whether this delay took the steam out of the early exchanges is debatable, but they did seem to be somewhat tentative as if each side appeared to not to want to make a mistake that would give an advantage to the other. Moor did soak up some initial pressure but in their first encroachment into Wigton’s half, they forced the home side into giving away a penalty that was kicked by scrum-half Shaun Stirrup to take an early lead. This was doubled soon afterwards with another Stirrup penalty and this lead was maintained until the last 10 minutes of the half before Wigton went ahead with their third successful penalty kick. This should have remained the score line at the interval but for a crass piece of stupidity by a Moor player. It what was the last play of the half, Moor were penalised on the halfway line and the offending player then disputed the referee’s decision, who promptly marched Moor back another 10 metres and into range for the home side to kick their fourth penalty and make the score 12-6.

The second half found Moor having to defend to an even greater extent as the weight advantage of the Wigton forwards began to pay dividends. A further penalty extended the home side’s lead before Moor were able to add to their score. In what was their first excursion into the opposition’s 22 in the match, Moor won a series of rucks before the ball was recycled along the back line where number 8 Keith Young was lurking to collect the final pass and crash over the line for an unconverted try. Despite this fillip to Moor’s cause, they were increasingly being penalised in their efforts to halt the opposition’s forward-dominated play and eventually had a player yellow-carded. With the handicap of a man short, it was not too long before the home side wore down Moor’s defences and they eventually crossed for an unconverted try following a series of rolling mauls. In the last 5 minutes, Moor did have a chance to reduce the deficit, but a last gasp tackle denied what seemed to be a certain try for winger Ivan Smetana and the game eventually ended with a 20-11 victory for Wigton, enabling the latter to consolidated their position at the top of the division.

Moor are back at Green Lane next Saturday when they play Upper Eden, k.o. 2:15 p.m.