Northwich 18

Fleetwood 17

Thwaites North West 2

Saturday, October 23

A RICKY Evans penalty two minutes from time allowed Northwich to snatch victory in a lacklustre clash.

Apart from a 20-minute spell in the first half, Northwich never got out of first gear against a Fleetwood side which was light up front.

The home team took too many wrong decisions and failed to capitalise on their forward supremacy.

Fleetwood were understandably disappointed after taking the lead midway through the second half and looking likely to hold on. But given Northwich's territorial advantage and possession, the result was probably fair.

Northwich suffered an early setback when, from a scrum close to the line, Fleetwood's No.8 picked up the ball and went over for a try, with the home back row nowhere to be seen.

It took Northwich only a couple of minutes to equalize though, with hooker Ian Taylor crashing over from a ruck.

Keith Jones kicked the conversion and followed up with a penalty to stretch the lead to 10-5.

Taylor added a second try midway through the half and Northwich looked set to run up a good score.

However, the home defence was left standing for the second time in the game as Fleetwood broke down the blind side to score a try and make the half-time score 15-10.

Within 10 minutes of the restart Northwich lost both their points scorers with hamstring injuries, having already seen lock Brierley leave the field at the interval.

Rob Birtles moved from prop to hooker, with Daniel Davey filling his front-row berth.

The loss of key players caused disruption and when possession was lost, giving the Fleetwood flanker a free run to touch down under the posts for a converted try, it looked as if the game was slipping away.

Full-back Charles Wood and winger Steve Campbell both failed to get the lead back as they missed penalties, leaving it to Evans to save the day.

NORTHWICH 2nds won 19-10 at Glossop, while the 3rds beat Sedgeley Park 14-12 at home.

THIS Saturday Northwich have no league game and are hoping to arrange a first XV pool fixture. The 2nds are at home to Holmes Chapel and the 3rds away, also to Holmes Chapel.

NORTHWICH'S next league fixture, at home to Vagabonds of the Isle of Man, has been put back a week to avoid clashing with the World Cup final. It will now be played at Moss Farm on November 13.

A QUIZ night has been organised by Northwich at Hartford British Legion Club on Friday, November 19. Anyone interested in entering a team should contact Trevor Rawlings on 01606 871636.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.