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 North Lancs Cumbria League leaders Wigton make it 18 wins from 19 matches with a clinical 38 -12 win over play off hopefuls Eccles.
The visitors were at Lowmoor road early as this was an important match for both teams.
They probably did not deserve to lose by such a large margin but they did because of Wigton’s hard-working defence and some clinical finishing.
The game was decided in a 15 minute period from the 18th minute when Wigton blitzed the Manchester team with 24 points.
Up to that stage it was an even game despite the Greens having wind advantage.
A line out maul led to a penalty and after several drives had been held up the patience was rewarded with captain Matthew Atkinson driven over.
Wigton went into the match missing normal place kickers; scrum half Tane Manihera and centre John Wright so the kicking duties were passed to centre Chris Pattinson and he duly converted from wide out - adding another three conversions for good measure.
Wigton then turned on the pressure and the platform was laid by strong running forwards, particularly back row men Robert Marrs, John Story and Atkinson along with lock Sean Stephens.
The second try came from a storming run by Atkinson into the 22 and with the defence sucked in scrum half Fergus Ledingham moved the ball to midfield, where prop Andrew Bell drove on.
Quick ruck ball and good long passing from fly half Dave Hanabury and full back Dave Warwick gave Tom Gardner space to make ground. He timed his pass well to wing Callum Studholme who stepped inside the cover to stretch out and score a superb team try. 
Straight from the kick off came another score. It was training ground stuff as the forwards ran hard and two quick ruck balls gave Hanabury the chance to dummy and break before putting centre Gardner clear.
He made 40 metres only to be hauled down by the cover but the backs cleaned out the ruck and Pattinson picked up to twist his way over for the try which he converted himself.
The forwards were on the charge again as Story made a fine break and excellent inter-passing between wing Andrew Logue, Atkinson, and Story found Marrs at pace to score in the corner for a 24-0 lead after 33 minutes.
Eccles forwards then took control and used pick and drive round the fringes. After a dozen or more drives they earned a scrum five metres out. A huge drive by their pack saw the scrum go down and the referee awarded a penalty try which was converted to get Eccles on the board.
With Eccles hopes up Wigton came back on the stroke of half time, Atkinson broke from a five metre scrum to drive over the line for the fifth try superbly converted by Pattinson for a 31-7 half time lead.
In the second half Wigton played into the breeze and had to defend for long spells as Eccles decided to keep the game tight.
The pressure began to tell as the penalties against Wigton mounted with Pattinson and Studholme spending time in the bin. During Studholme’s absence Eccles scored a fine try by winger Danny Holland.
However the Wigton defence takes some breaking down and with hooker Stephen Carruthers and Bell leading the way Eccles could not add to their score.
Wigton again got on top and dominated the last 15 minutes as the forwards, reinforced by the enthusiastic Russell McLean and Shaun Clorley continued to slug it out.
 Eventually on 78 minutes Hanabury capped a man of the match performance with a fine try (left). Marrs offloaded to him running a perfect line to go through the defence and he raced in from 40 metres. Pattinson converted.
Coach Nigel Beaty said: “It was a particularly pleasing performance as we had several changes in the backs. Fergus Ledingham, who has not played scrum half for two years, came in for Tane and did a superb job.
“The players are growing in confidence as each challenge is overcome. However there is no complacency - the players know we still need to improve in several areas.”
Wigton’s last home game is next week against Burnley and after that due to fixture re-arrangements they are on the road for the final six matches.
With Workington losing at St Benedict’s it is now Kirkby Lonsdale who will be the main threat to the title they have three games in hand but are 11 points behind.
St. Benedict’s dented Workington’s promotion play-off hopes when they beat the Zebras 26-13 in a North Lancs Cumbria game again switched to the Copeland Stadium.
Benny’s had to make changes due to injuries and unavailability and one of them saw Kristian Wood play in the forwards for the first time. He responded with 21 points and a man of the match award.
Coach Ian McQuire was also forced into action coming into the second row for te injured John Connery.
Workington also had to make a re-shuffle in the backs as they were without three regulars.
For the first 15 minutes Benny’s were pinned in their own half by the huge Workington pack and only some excellent tackling prevented the visitors from scoring.
They did, however, take the lead with a penalty from Kevin Harper, but they were disappointed not to have crossed the Benny’s try line.
Benny’s came back and were close to scoring after some good work by impressive scrum half Mark Bainbridge who tried a little chip over the top only to be tackled without the ball. Wood kicked the penalty from just inside his own half to level the score. 
The home backs were starting to create gaps in the Workington defence with both Dan Appleton and Ryan Fisher going close only for some good defence to stop them.
They scored, however, after some excellent work from both the forwards and backs.
From a scrum Benny’s broke from inside their own half and full back Kyle Hiddleston came into the line to go past a couple of defenders. The ball went via Appleton to winger Mark Caulfield who was tackled on the Workington 22.
The home forward were the first ones there with both Kevin Parr and Lee Wood doing some impressive cleaning out to give Bainbridge good, fast ball. He fed stand off Craig Fisher who popped an inside ball to number eight Wood to score and he also added the conversion.
Harper pulled it back to 10-6 when he kicked his second penalty after a high tackle.
Benny’s were twice close to scoring after that as Jamie Jardine was held up over the line and Hiddleston lost possession when he went over the Zebras line.
 When Workington were penalised for killing the ball just before the break Wood booted another successful kick for a 13-6 lead at the interval.
Soon after the restart the home side scored their second and best try which involved all their backs and was finished off by Appleton, with Wood converting.
Wood kicked another penalty on the hour before Workington fought back to score a converted try at a time they were down to 14 men.
From a catch and drive following a lineout they got over and despite Benny’s feeling Craig Fisher had disrupted the touchdown the try was given to Neil Hastings and Harper converted for a 23-13 scoreline.
Lifted by the success Workington put Benny’s under tremendous pressure only to be denied by some superb defence.
Time was running out when St. Benedict’s broke and Scott Wood almost got through but the final score of the game was another penalty from Kris Wood.
After stuttering performance in a close win at struggling Burnley last week it was business as usual for Keswick as they comprehensively beat a poor Oldham side 41-7 at Davidson Park.
They scored here first-half tries through Jamie McKenzie, David Ray and John Hine to help them into a 22-0 lead. Hine converted two and kicked a penalty.
Whenever they raised the intensity Keswick looked dangerous and although missing several try-scoring opportunities did cross three more times in the second-half through Andy Wallace, Matty Roper and Brian Story. Hine and Story each added a conversion.
The only downside was that they conceded a late converted try.
Netherhall were well beaten 43-14 at Maryport by a good Upper Eden team.
The visitors got off to a great start when the inside centre raced through for a try under the posts in the first minute.
Two more converted tries were scored in the opening quarter of an hour before Netherhall appeared to wake up.
Some god work by Nicky Dixon at hooker, backed up by Steven Knowles, pushed the visitors back into their 22 where they killed the ball and Liam Vickers put over a good penalty.
Netherhall got on top for a ten minute spell before half time and stand-off Paul Atkinson put Vickers through a gap only to see him stopped by a try-saving tackle.
However Upper Eden conceded two more penalties which Vickers put over to make it 9-21 at half time.
A come back was soon stopped when poor tackling by the home forwards allowed the Upper Eden back row to score two unconverted tries.
The fitness levels were now showing with Netherhall struggling to match the pace of the visitors.
Phil Dixon made good ground on the right and he fed inside to his brother Nicky who raced past two defenders before throwing a dummy to beat the full back to score a great try in the corner.
Upper Eden scored another two tries late on, one of which was converted.
All games in the Cumbria League were postponed.
The pictures are from the Wigton v Eccles game with DAVID HANABURY senior behind the camera. With a man of the match performance David Hanabury junior features prominently.
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