Widnes Albion Bulls 11 Ince Rose Bridge 10

THE Albion achieved another glorious chapter in the short history of the club by achieving a place in the Lancashire Cup final - at the expense of the holders and National Cup runners-up.

It was a game of two halves and the Albion faced a stiff breeze in the first period.

They held their illustrious opponents with some ferocious tackling, well led by Paul Kirwan, Andy Hibbert and Chris Freeman but fell behind to a penalty in the 15th minute to Rose Bridge scrumhalf Peet who landed the conversion when a missed tackle let Cleary over by the posts and the home side were 0-8 in arrears.

Losing prop Paul Davies to injury let Keith Murphy continue his comeback as he took over the hard yards role.

With Kev Blythin, Gary Richardson and Andy Friar making the breaks without any reward it seemed harsh when Rose Bridge landed a late penalty to open up a 10-0 interval lead.

With the wind behind them in the second half the Albion set about the task of reducing the arrears and succeeded after five minutes when Lee Birdseye, who had a top game, landed a penalty.

Now with the majority of possession and a good kicking game the Albion spent most of their time in the Rose Bridge half and when Danny Ruth, impeccable under the high balls, linked up and Andy Hibbert drove over under a weight of opponents for his first try for the club.

Birdseye's conversion put the Albion only two points in arrears.

On the hour came the decisive moment when the Albion were awarded a penalty 10 yards inside their own half and up stepped Lee Birdseye to land a penalty with a monster kick which sailed between the posts.

With this kick levelling the scores, Albion spirits were visibly lifted while Rose Bridge heads went down and apart from one narrow squeak on a kick and chase.

Albion had the game under control, Maffy Crossley, Ian Littler and Sean McGahan all doing their share before up popped Gary Richardson to land a match winning drop goal, a lead the Albion never relinquished in a proud day for all connected with the club.