Latchford repel late comeback to win by a single point

LATCHFORD Albion came out on top 25-24 in a closely fought encounter at Ulverston.
It was the second consecutive weekend, Latchford had repelled a late comeback to secure victory by a solitary point, as they continue their rise up the league table.
With a long trip to Cumbria, coach Martyn Ellis put faith in the club’s youth section, with no fewer than six under 18’s making the step up to represent the open age side.
It was one of the juniors who opened Albion’s account for the day, when second row Charlie McCurrie (pictured) used his strength to hold off three would be defenders to plant the ball down near the posts, Sam Dobson adding the conversion.
The hosts did level proceedings shortly after with a well worked try, however the last 10 minutes of the half belonged to the visitors, and the lead was regained with two quick fire tries to Dobson and Daniel Brown, with Dobson’s conversions seeing Latchford in full control leading 18 – 6 at half time.
Within five minutes of the restart, the lead was further extended when another junior, Roma Zheng, showed great pace to race in from 20 yards out. Again Dodson added the extras.
A converted try on the hour by the hosts hinted at a comeback however, shortly after, clever thinking from Chris Griffiths saw him register a drop goal to restore Albion’s three score lead.
Ulverston did fight back, and converted tries on 74 and 78 minutes reduced the deficit to just one point, however the visitors held on for a deserved victory to rise into sixth place in the table, only two points away from the play off places with four games left to play.
Albion have the chance to climb further up the table this week, when they travel to Halton Simms Cross this Thursday evening, kick off 7.15pm.