Resurgent Reds on roll

Whitchurch's autumn roll continues after they chalked up a fifth successive victory to continue their promising surge up the North Two table.

Whitchurch's autumn roll continues after they chalked up a fifth successive victory to continue their promising surge up the North Two table.The Edgeley Park men moved into the top four with a 32-21 win over Winnington Park, displaying further evidence of a resurgence from Shropshire's traditionally strongest club.

Yet club spokesman John Gregory revealed his disappointment at a late lapse in concentration which dramatically reduced the winning margin.

"It was disappointing because we fell apart from the 77th to the 80th minute and allowed them to score two tries," he said.

"That made the scoreline a lot closer than it should have been but the important thing was that the win maintained the momentum.

"The team are certainly playing with more confidence than they were at the start of the season."

Winnington Park grabbed the first score with Ben Barton scoring the first try and adding a conversion. But the remainder of the opening period belonged to Whitchurch.

Chris Hilliker's penalty reduced the deficit before Tom Crank crossed the line to put Whitchurch in front to conclude a flowing move from the backs.

A forward drive allowed captain Russell Lear to grab the hosts second try, Hilliker converting to put Whitchurch 15-7 ahead.

A break from Hilliker then set centre Mark Williams up for a converted try before Neil Harper struck in first half injury-time to give the hosts a 27-7 interval lead.

Stalemate

A second half stalemate then ensued with 33 minutes passing until the next score, Hilliker extending the Whitchurch lead with a try before Winnington struck late twice through Will Burgess and John Piggott to give the scoreline greater respectability from their viewpoint.

Luctonians recent revival came to an abrupt end when they were soundly beaten 45-15 by South Leicester.

Lucs had won their previous two games but were outgunned by the East Midlands side who ran in seven tries.

Luctonians have now lost seven of their eight Midlands One matches and are firmly embedded in the relegation zone, four points adrift of Walsall, Longton, and South Leicester, who all have six points.

"It was a very, very poor performance and it is time for the players to stand up and be counted," said Lucs spokesman Robin East.

"We never got out of the starting blocks and virtually conceded the game to our opponents.

"Time is slowly running out and we will have to get some good results quickly to lift our game starting against Longton on Saturday."

Bruce Ruthven, Paul Hulland and Jeremy Wheadon, all scored tries to make up the Luctonians' points tally.

By James Garrison