THE BANK travelled to St Helens to meet unbeaten top of the table side Portico.

Portico gave their usual welcome with several dangersous high tackles in the opening minutes but this did not put the Bank off and in the early stages both sides seemed evenly matched.

Two converted tries within a minute gave Portico a 12 points advantage but a superb run from centre Ian Connor saw scrum-half Peter Leyshon back up well to send full-back Charlie Jones racing 30 yards to the line. Peter Leyshon added the conversion.

The Bank were unsettled just before half-time when a blatant head tackle from former Widnes and Swinton pro Chris Ashurst saw Bank captain Steven King carried off and taken to hospital.

The second-half started like the first with more high shots from Portico followed by two quick tries.

The Bank then tired and lost their concentration and Portico showed their other side with some good rugby putting them out of reach of the Bank.

Ian Connor, Rob Corish and John Buckley kept going well for the Bank.

Substitutes John Wilson and Mark Woodward both were unable to ground the ball after good runs took them over the home line.

The Bank A team due to injuries and late withdrawals unfortunately had to concede their game against Widnes Albion A.

The club needs to strengthen its squad and urgently needs players, new and old, who are over 16 and of any standard to maintain their two open-age sides.

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