Widnes Albion 20

Bold Miners 14

A SLOW start from Bold allowed Albion to quickly go eight points up through an early try and penalty.

But Miners fought back with some determined play as the game approached the interval. With both defences on top it was left to a Mark Saunders penalty to make the score 8-2 on the stroke of half time.

Bold were finally rewarded for their spell of constant pressure five minutes after the restart when big prop Paul Rigby crashed over from short range to level the scores.

Having forced themselves back onto level terms Bold then suffered a nightmare five minute lapse, which resulted in two crucial tries for the home side.

On 47 minutes weak tackling allowed Albion's big prop go in untouched under the posts.

From the restart Bold lost the ball, which resulted in Albion scoring again to make it 20-8.

Bold at last began to play some good open rugby with Dave Hill and Lea Bolton going close to scoring.

With 15 minutes left, after some good work from Dave Scott, Darren Anders left the defence flat-footed to score, converted by Mark Saunders.

This spurred Bold on and they bombarded the Albion line, with only some frantic last ditch tackling keeping them out. Dave Hill and then Paul Rigby were both pulled down just short of the line in the closing stages

Grundy Excavations man of the match went to Lea Bolton with Dave Hill, Dave Scott and Darren Anders having excellent games.