Littleborough thirds 25 - 19 Heaton Moor thirds

Littleborough RUFC

After accumulating an impressive 18 point lead at half time, Littleborough thirds survived a second half collapse to end a three match win-less run.

Two tries from Thomas Travis and two penalties from the boot of Nathan Coop in an absorbing first 40 gave Littleborough an unassailable lead, only for Heaton Moor thirds to take advantage of Littleborough tiredness and injury setbacks to leave with a losing bonus point.

Boro found themselves on the scoreboard early with a simple penalty 25 metres out in front of the posts, converted by Coop, after the referee had penalised Heaton Moor for being offside.

Littleborough's first try of the afternoon came much against the run of play as scrum half Ogden box kicked perfectly into the Heaton Moor left hand touchline. A chase by Travis and Dolan brought the fullback down and as Boro forwards joined to ruck over the ball, it was picked up by Travis, who craftily snook in the corner to get his first try of the afternoon. Coop could not quite find the conversion to match but Littleborough were off and running.

It would soon become 15-0 as Travis once more found the try line in good company. Ball from the scrum was shipped to fly half Travis who, spotting a gap in the Heaton defence, weaved his way through to score under the posts.  Coop added extra two points.

Heaton Moor were putting up a fight and nearly had a try of their own in the first half, only for Coop to make a superb last ditch tackle on the Heaton scrum half who had raced clear before holding him up over the line.

Coop kicked another penalty in a similar position to the first to give Littleborough a commanding lead going into the break.

Boro increased their lead early in the second half, quick ball from the ruck was given to veteran centre Jason Clegg to fend off two tackles in midfield before bumping off the left winger and then the full back to dot down in the left hand corner. Coop converted.

Smiles and laughter soon turned to anxious worries for Boro as the game turned with Heaton Moor fighting back with three converted tries.

Heaton got their first points of the afternoon, with visiting number seven breaking through a couple of tackles to stretch for the try line. The conversion was successful.

Heaton Moor's Cody ran a great outside line before holding off the tackle of the last man Rawlinson to race clear under the posts.

Heaton were now in control as Littleborough became sloppy and consistently changed players.

With five minutes left on the watch, Heaton punished more poor tackling from Boro to dive down on the left hand side, leaving the Rakewood faithful chomping at their nails until the very end.

Boro saw the game out to end a miserable run of the results in March and enter the back end of the season in more buoyant mood.