LATCHFORD Albion returned to winning ways with a hard fought 22-10 victory at play-off contenders Shevington Sharks.
Played on a very narrow pitch, the game became very much a forward battle between two very physical packs.
In a close first half the opening points did not arrive until the 25th minute, and went the way of the hosts with a well worked try which was also converted.
Albion’s response came when loose forward Danny Brown (pictured) dummied his way over to cross under the posts leaving George Briggs’ conversion a formality.
With no further scoring the game was finely balanced at 6-6 at half time.
The second half followed a similar pattern with the hosts regaining the lead when they ran the ball on the last tackle and spread the ball out wide allowing their winger to squeeze in at the corner. However,
crucially, the conversion was missed.
The try appeared to spark Albion into life and some physical defence forced the Shevington side into an error which Albion took full advantage of.
The ball was fired out to wing Reece Forrest who scored his first try for the club with Briggs’ conversion nudging the visitors in the lead for the first time.
An injury to a Shevington Sharks player delayed the game for 40 minutes and after the restart some great defence from the Albion forwards held out a Shevington side looking to regain the lead.
With time running out, the hosts gambled with a chip over the Latchford defence but wing Owen Nugent read the play brilliantly, gathering the kick and racing 60 yards to score under the posts, Briggs’ conversion opening up an eight point lead entering the closing stages.
Another Shevington kick was excellently fielded near his own line by full back Craig Mather who went on a weaving run where he was hauled down on the Shevington 10 metre line. A quick play of the ball caught a tired Shevington defence napping and allowed centre Dave Levenson to cross out wide and put the seal on a great victory.
Coaches Lee Smith and Dave Yii were understandably satisfied and added “We would like to thank the players after that fantastic effort, after the heavy defeat we had at Thatto it was important we restored some pride and we think we went well beyond that.
“Our squad is starting to prove its worth as again there were players missing, but we have faith in whoever pulls on the jersey and that is testament to the commitment they are showing.
“The game was an arm wrestle and we came up against a very physical side but we saw today that we can give as good as we get and in the second half we dominated their pack which allowed us the field position to go and play rugby which ultimately won us the game,
“Shevington are a top four team but today we were the better side and fully deserved our win.
“We were led superbly by Danny Brown who really leads by example and we saw players feeding off his enthusiasm and work rate, we really are looking like a team who wants to win for each other and we certainly are proving we belong in the premiership ”
This Saturday Latchford Alliance have a fixture at Garswood Stags kick off 2.30pm,
Latchford are looking for players of all ages and abilities and anyone interested should contact the club via its Facebook or Twitter pages’
