Littleborough RUFC Seconds 26 - 56 Eccles Seconds

A bitterly disappointing second half from Littleborough gifted an organised Eccles side victory and has added another dent in the Boro promotion hopes.

Despite having fought back to be 26-22 up at the break, Littleborough capitulated in the second half allowing Eccles to run riot.

Boro were not helped in that second half by the sin binning of two players leaving them with just 13 players for least eight minutes.

Littleborough were caught cold at the start of the first half conceding a try in the top right hand corner; Eccles utilised the overlap to send the number 13 through for his first of the afternoon. The conversion was less well executed dropping well short of the posts.

Back came Littleborough with a try of their own. A cross field kick from Danny Lawlor had the Eccles back three scrambling before Jordan Turner beautifully timed his chase to perfection, collecting the bouncing ball comfortably 10 metres out and strolling in for an easy score. Nathan Coop was spot on with his left side conversion as Littleborough edged into the lead.

Eccles were not about to allow their good start to go to waste and capitalised on open space in the outfield turning a simple overlap into a successful one. The conversion attempt sailed wide of the right hand post.

Littleborough restored their lead as a smart box kick into the corner of the Eccles 22, from Richard Taylor on half way, gave Aaron Jones the chance to use his pace to collect the loose ball and squirm in for his first try in a month. Coop couldn't quite find the extra two points in what was a very difficult conversion chance.

Once more the lead changed hands as Eccles put two more tries past the Littleborough defence. The first was one of their better scores as the inside centre cut a beautiful line off a dummy runner, slicing through the heart of the centres to sprint clear in the left hand corner. This time, the Eccles 10 honed his kicking accuracy to successfully convert the extras.

The second came as missed tackles allowed the Eccles centre to power through before he threw the ball wide to his support runner to finish off a poor score from a Boro perspective.

Boro showed fantastic attitude and character to come and strike back with a vengeance.

First Aaron Jones pounced on another smart cross field kick from Taylor to stroll in for his second in the last play of the first half, a Lawlor cross field kick was knocked back into the hands of support runner Coop by his teammate Turner, allowing the former to sprint past the cover defence to score down the left hand side. Taylor took the score to 27-22 at half time with a spectacular conversion.

Come the second half, Littleborough, despite being on top, let the lead and the game slip drastically as the more organised Eccles side pulled away with six tries to accumulate a 34 point difference in the second half.

It all started over a controversial decision by the referee not to award a clear try to Coop. A cross kick caused havoc in the Eccles ranks and when the substitute winger attempted to gather the loose ball in the end zone, he spilled it to the path of Coop who managed to get his hands on the ball. The referee did not see it that way and said that the defender put it down for a 22 drop out much to astonishment of everyone in the bottom corner.

Coop still aggrieved by the decision not to award him a second try was sent to the bin five minutes later for talking too much to the referee. He was shortly joined on the sidelines by another Boro player Aaron Jones, who was given 10 minutes in the bin for a clinical trip on the outside centre as he broke through the Littleborough defensive line.