Crosfields 12 Woolston Rovers 16

WOOLSTON Rovers retained the Stuart Middleton Foundation Warrington Cup after a hard-fought final victory.

They edged out neighbours Crosfields at The Halliwell Jones Stadium last Wednesday to ensure the trophy returned to Monks Sports Club.

Dan Fearnley crossed twice, with Lewis Hoarty getting Rovers’ other try while Jack Reid and Billy Sheen were on the scoresheet for Soap.

“We have turned in some great performances this season, but this one was something special,” Woolston head coach Mal Holt said.

“It was hard fought with the game having everything a local derby should have, with both teams showing pride and passion for the jersey they wore.”

Magnanimous in defeat, Crosfields head coach Ian Boden said: “Congratulations to everybody involved at Woolston on the win.

“They were far more aggressive than us in both attack and defence, out-enthused us throughout the game and deserved to get the victory.”

Crosfields were first on the scoresheet after Hayden James’ break forced a penalty, from which Reid dummied his way through the Woolston defence to score.

However, the Green and Golds hit back when Karlton Bates collected Ryan Brown’s high kick and passed back inside for Fearnley to cross, with Will Chadwick’s conversion taking them into the lead.

A mistake from Soap allowed Rovers to move further ahead as a grubber kick was fumbled, allowing Hoarty to touch the ball down in the left corner.

Trailing by eight points, Crosfields had to score next to stay alive and did just that before the break as an inside ball from Reid put Sheen over, with the former adding the extras to make it 12-10 to Woolston at the break.

The second half was an arm wrestle with defences on top throughout, with Reid electing to kick for goal and level the scores with a penalty with less than 15 minutes remaining.

That set up a thrilling finale and it was Fearnley who stepped up to be the match winner.

A sweeping move from left to right stretched the Soap defence and Fearnley broke through a tackle to cross.

Both sides finished with 12 men as Soap’s Matt Barber and Woolston’s Harry Files were sin-binned when tempers boiled over, but Woolston controlled the final minutes to secure the win.

Warrington Wolves chairman Stuart Middleton and head coach Steve Price were on hand to present Mal Holt’s side with the trophy.

Crosfields: John Whittaker; Dan Reid, Chris Hull, Ian Boden, Nathan Taylor; Jack Reid, Joe Clarke; Phil Brazendale, Hayden James, David Boden, Jordan Williams, Mitch McJay, Tom Millington. Subs: Billy Sheen, Matt Mahoney, Matty Barber, Jordan Ansell.

Woolston: Glyn Roberts; Karlton Bates, Dan Fearnley, Lewis Hoarty, Will Chadwick, Aaron Barber, Conner Muir, Jack Sherratt, Ryan Brown, Ryan Hickman, Josh Sudlow, Daniel Markham, Harry Files. Subs: Christian Taylor, Cameron Davies, Matt Davy, John Welch.

Crosfields A 28 Burtonwood Bridge 26

BAILEY Hartley’s last-second try allowed Crosfields A to dramatically snatch the Warrington Alliance Cup.

Burtonwood Bridge had been well in control of Thursday’s final at Victoria Park and lead 24-10 at one point.

However, Hartley’s try from Sam Hickey’s clever kick completed a stunning Soap turnaround.

Crosfields took the lead when Jack Williams finished off a Will Armstrong break, but Lewis Scott raced home to pull Bridge level.

Burtonwood’s Connor Davies and Soap’s Taylor Boyne then swapped tries to lock the scores at 10-10 before Josh Woods’ penalty just before half time gave Bridge a two-point lead.

From then on, Lee Cunningham’s side took control as Will Weir burst through some suspect defence to score before Almer Salvilla picked up a dropped ball to add his name to the scoresheet.

Brad Thompson then added a penalty to take Bridge into a three-score lead.

Soap were not finished as Hartley dived over in the corner, but another Thompson penalty made it 26-14 to Bridge with just 15 minutes left.

However, that was the start of a Crosfields comeback as Nathan Thompson charged onto Alex Clutterbuck’s chip to get the ball rolling.

Armstrong and Brad Stanway then did excellently to keep Danny Lee’s chip alive for Christian White to cross in the corner.

Bridge thought they had the game won when they tackled Crosfields into touch with time ticking away, but they were penalised for dragging to present Soap with one final chance.

After solid drives from the forwards, Hickey spotted a gap out wide and chipped into the path of Hartley, who collected the ball on the bounce and dived over to seal the most dramatic of victories.