Woolston Rovers 22 Gateshead Storm 30

TWO players were sent off and a further two sin-binned as Woolston Rovers slipped to a home defeat on Saturday.

Rovers finished the game with just 10 men after both Lewis Hoarty and Dan Fearnley were dismissed for dissent, either side of Harry Files being sent to the sin bin for the same offence.

Niall Toher was yellow-carded earlier in the game for a dangerous lift, and the hosts’ transgressions allowed visitors Gateshead to take the two points back to Tyneside.

Head coach Mal Holt slammed his side’s display as one of their worst of the National Conference League Division Three season so far.

“To have two red cards and two sin binnings is very hard to explain and that has cost us dearly,” he said.

“After a really gutsy performance last week, we have turned in one of our worst of the season this week and it is so frustrating.

“When we stuck to our gameplan and played rugby we were by far the better team, but unfortunately we didn’t play like that for long enough.”

“This makes our automatic promotion chances that little bit harder, but we have to learn from this result and move forward.”

Rovers had started well and scored twice in the opening 10 minutes, with Files, Ryan Hickman and Ryan Brown combining brilliantly to send Fearnley over for the first try.

Once Brown’s superb ball had put Christian Taylor over in the corner, Woolston were well in control.

However, converted efforts from Danny Chetwynd and Luke Banham put the visitors before Toher’s yellow card.

Toher made amends by crossing on the left shortly after the break, but Ieuan Bodman twisted to score and put Gateshead back in front.

That was the cue for the visitors to assume full control thanks to Mike Mitchell’s try and a Zach Clark penalty.

Rovers reduced the gap to four points when Hoarty crashed over at the side of the sticks, but his sending-off reduced their chances further as Clark landed the resultant penalty.

Clark did the same after Files was sin-binned, while Woolston’s discipline collapsed completely when Fearnley became the second home player to be shown the red card.

Woolston: Conner Muir; Alex Dunne, Justin Becker, Lewis Hoarty, Christian Taylor; Aaron Barber, Will Chadwick; Jack Sherratt, Ryan Brown, Ryan Hickman, Dan Fearnley, Daniel Markham, Harry Files. Subs: Josh Sudlow, Anthony Clayton, Niall Toher, Shaun Yoxall.

Woolston Rovers A 6 Wigan St Cuthberts 76

ANDY Penny says he “cannot fault” the effort of his Woolston Rovers A side despite their crushing defeat in the NWML Trophy quarter-finals.

Opponents Wigan St Cuthberts, who ply their trade a division higher than Rovers, showed no mercy as they ran in 13 tries at Monks Sports Club.

The hosts’ only score came via Craig Davies as he dummied over on the left after Josh Bray claimed Callum Moore’s kick, with Liam Sullivan adding the conversion.

Rovers also had two players yellow-carded, with Bray and Moore both spending time in the sin bin for dissent.

“It was a tough afternoon for us against a quality side who never let us get into our stride,” Penny said.

“They were on top from the kick off and punished any of our mistakes.

“We had a number of changes to the side that didn’t help, but I couldn’t fault the efforts of each player.

“We never gave up and competed right until the end, but we were defeated by a better team on the day.”

Woolston A: Liam Sullivan; Josh Bray, Craig Davies, Sean Millington, Jake Bray; Shaun McDermott, Callum Moore; Richard Potts, Tom Gaskell, Max Ainsworth, Jay Ryder, Sean Withington, Karlton Bates. Subs: Wez Lawton, Craig Byrne, Danny Griffiths, Sam Bennett.

Warrington Guardian:

Craig Davies scores Woolston Rovers A's only try during the NWML Cup defeat to Wigan St Cuthberts. Picture by Paul Bray