Albion retain top spot after thriller (From Warrington Guardian)

Albion retain top spot after thriller

2:40pm Thursday 14th June 2012 in Amateur RL

Oldham St Annes 24 Latchford Albion 26

LATCHFORD Albion stay joint top of the North West Men’s Division Two thanks to a narrow victory on the road at Oldham, with both sides struggling in the heavy rain.

Albion started the stronger of the two sides, nice build-up play from Hill, Bishop, and Levenston leading to a Whitehead try that Lawton converted.

But as with the rest of the game it was nip and tuck, and Oldham almost immediately hit back to level the scores before Latchford managed to sustain some possession in the pouring rain.

That spell with the ball led to two unanswered tries from the visitors, Dave Levenston and Matt Whitehead-Wilson scoring tries that made the score 16-6 once Lawton had added one of the goals.

Oldham matched Latchford stride for stride in the scoring battle, answering Albion’s brief period of dominance with two converted tries of their own to gain the lead for the first time.

The see-saw play continued after the break, Latchford first breaking away with tries from man of the match Ste Worrel and Mattie Patt before the hosts pegged them back with a try of their own to trail by two points with 10 minutes to go.

Latchford stayed strong in defence in the closing stages, holding a determined St Annes side out to grab a tight win.

n ALBION are now looking to boost all of their teams with new players, with the first team looking for recruits to help them in Division Two and the second team looking to join an Entry league.

Training is at Victoria Park on Tuesdays and Thursday from 6.20pm, call Mike Byron on 07769 788995 for more information.