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Ashton RUFC 7 - 20 Garstang

5/ 3/2008

ASHTON’S hopes of beating one of the three teams beneath them in the league were blown away by the combination of a blustery wind, committed opposition and a strangely unfocused performance.

Playing towards Hartshead Pike in the first half with a strong wind at their backs, the visitors played the conditions to perfection, penning Ashton in their own half for long periods as kicks out of defence were reduced to a lottery.

Ashton had still to cross their own 22 metre line when they were penalised for handling on the floor in the fifth minute, allowing Garstang to launch their forwards who successfully breached the home defence for a converted try.

Having seen their visitors miss what looked like an easy kick, Ashton failed to learn their lesson by conceding another penalty moments later which was converted.

With Ashton making some progress as they tried to run the ball forward, there was no real fluency and when a loose pass was knocked on, the referee played advantage and the visitors streaked clear for a converted try under the posts.

A penalty saw Garstang 20-0 up at half-time with Ashton also having lost Gareth Blomeley to injury.

The match looked winnable provided Ashton could emulate the visitors’ first-half display as two early kickable penalties were spurned in favour of keeping possession.

However, their repeated forward drives or slow service to the backs came to nothing until Neil Oldham forced his way over, Tom Hibbert with the conversion.

Similar application might have won the game but Ashton instead lost Matt Worthington and Mick O’Meara as Garstang maintained possession.