That should be 14-man Ashton, definitely had a sub.

But yes, good effort to come down and play with such a depleted squad, I believe there were several phone calls in the morning for various reasons but your lads fronted up and didn't take a backward step. Your squad was a lot younger than I've seen them before and it told as some of our bigger lads took advantage. For most of the game we were dominant in defence and pretty good going forward, I suppose the scoreline reflects that. A 5-minute spell where some of our lads thought the game was won saw us concede 2 quick tries but they switched on again and closed out for the remainder, running in a few more tries before the whistle.

Cheers to your lads for making the trip, our lot appreciated the effort. A lot of other teams would have conceded.

Well if you call a 16 yr old who'd never touched a rugby ball before a sub, yes we had a sub but let's not split hairs eh?

He's on the team sheet, he's a sub

Anyway, Accrington 24-8 Bury. No excuses, terrible performance from us against a good, well drilled Accy side with a couple of dangerous runners. Mistake after mistake including losing the ball when over the line for a clear try, stupid decisions, chasing the game in our own 20, falling off simple tackles, etc. But for that bombed try and being held up over the line 5 times it would have been closer but our worst performance of the year by some distance and Accy deserved it.

Our 2nds also went down 32-18 against Waterhead A. Was a close game from what I've heard, with Waterhead only pulling away late on. Good performance against a much bigger and experienced side.

Bury vs Fitton Hill

Fitton cried off 30 mins before kick off. Nice one.

Suppose we get the points and they still have to come to our place, but 30 mins? Really?

Little Hulton Reds v Ashton Bears A
This game didn't go ahead because the ref deemed the pitch unplayable at 2:45pm. It was as the warm ups were coming to an end when this was brought to everyone attention and although LH went to get some sand to try to sort the bad patches the game was called off. Really not sure what happens now so we'll see what the league say on Monday. The parts of the pitch the ref wasn't happy with were very bad and had very loose sticky mud that came over the ankles so it was probably the right call. Why it was left so late is another issue though. In other news 1st team beat Clock Face to go top of the premier league for the first time in our history.

Got to say the facilities that LH are getting together are very impressive and their home changing rooms are among the best I've seen, well done to all concerned. LH started the same season we did so it's great to see how they're progressing.

Bolton 34 - 34 Bury

I wasn't there on Saturday but believe it was a pretty gripping see-saw game with the lead exchanging hands several times. We had 25 missing altogether (about 10 from 1st team) but still managed to field a 2 open age teams (2nds lost at Rochdale Cobras A), a great achievement.

Saying that, with ex-Mets players officiating like this were we always up against it! 5.01318359375:5