Portico Panthers 24

Widnes Albion Bulls 24

BOTH sides went into this game unbeaten and that was how they remained as the Albion gained a vital point on the ground of one of their biggest rivals.

The Albion took the lead when Andy Benson crashed through three tackles for a fine try, Chris Fenlon converting.

Five minutes later came as fine a try as you would see in rugby with the ball passing through five pairs of hands before wingman, Chris Bibby, took an inside pass to race to the posts after a move covering fully 75 yards. Fenlon added the goal.

However, on the half-hour they managed to fall asleep and conceded 14 points in 10 minutes to get behind at half-time.

An early Fenlon penalty levelled the scores before a sin-binning cost the Albion dear as they conceded 10 points while a man down to fall 24-14 behind.

Over the last 15 minutes they reduced the arrears when a long pass put Bibby in for his second before Gary Richardson burrowed his way over from acting half-back and Fenlon kept his nerve to land the equaliser giving the Albion a point but disappointed not to land the two their superior play deserved.

Farnworth A 22

Widnes Albion Bulls A 42

THE ALBION'S A team came away with the spoils in this derby game.

After taking the lead with a Ste Walsh try they fell behind at 4-6 before tries by Darren Yates, Neil Unsworth and Shaun McGahan and two goals by Danny Doherty against a converted try by Farnworth, gave Albion a 20-12 interval lead.

The visitors pulled away in the second-half with further tries by Ian Littler, Mike Elwell, a second for McGahan and Doherty who also landed three further goals.

Good forward play by Stu Featherstone, Ste Donnelly, Anthony Knight and Ste Bancroft snuffed out most of the home teams attacks before they began, but they did manage 10 consolation points.

The Albion Bulls meet Simms Cross in the Lancashire Cup at St Peter and Paul High School, kick-off 2.30pm.

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