Woolston Rovers A 38 Culcheth Eagles 22

WOOLSTON Rovers A secured a place in the NWML Shield final with a thrilling win over neighbours Culcheth Eagles.

The game doubled up as an NWML Division Four fixture and the victory allowed Rovers to go two points clear at the top of the table.

“Myself and Steve Moore are so proud of the way the boys have performed. The effort, team spirit and commitment they showed out there was unbelievable and I am absolutely delighted,” joint-coach Andy Penny said.

“We knew that it would be a tough encounter because Culcheth are a quality side.

“Even though we built up a good lead early on it was no surprise when they hit back as they have good players across the park.

“The way that we then responded was top class and in the end we got what we deserved.”

Paul Martin opened the scoring for Culcheth, but Callum Moore caught Billy Maunder’s kick to touch down and Liam Sullivan’s conversion levelled matters.

Rovers then went up a gear and tries from Olly Hands and Tom Woodward put them in control before Adam Files raced over from dummy-half.

Darryl Appleby crossed for the Eagles to make the score 22-12 at the break and that proved to be the start of a Culcheth fightback.

Jamie Aldred and Gregg Wilde both crossed to level the scores at 22-22 and Rovers were in real trouble when they had Moore sin-binned for dissent.

However, the visitors could not take advantage of the extra man and, as soon as Moore returned, Jay Ryder crossed to give Woolston a lead they would not relinquish.

Maunder then wrapped the game up with two late tries, first crossing from Files’ pass before racing 95 metres after collecting a loose ball.

The win secures Rovers a place in the final against Clock Face Miners A.

Woolston A: Liam Sullivan; Jay Ryder, Callum Moore, Danny Griffiths, Olly Hands; Kieran Moore, Billy Maunder; Owen Hazlehurst, Adam Files, Richard Potts, Tom Fagan, Tom Woodward, Mike Ward. Subs: Nathan Evans, Craig Rigby, Sam Bennett, Sean Millington.

Culcheth: Gregg Wilde; Charlie Hewitt, Luke Filson, Luke Jones, Ben Myers; Paul Martin, Jacob Maxted; Damien Twizell, Sam Purslow, Luke Henshaw, Sam Cooper, Darryl Appleby, Adam Heggie. Subs: James Wilde, Jamie Aldred, Dom Rainford, Stuart Pirrie.