Anselmians triumph in clash of the titans

Apr 20 2011 by Our Correspondent, Birkenhead News

THIS was the clash of the titans in South Lancs/Cheshire 1 with top meeting second place.

Both sides have dominated the league but it was Anselmians who came out top.

Anselmians had another re-shuffled side because of injuries and absences and there was a good crowd watching the game.

The first half belonged to Anselmians and they dominated the half with three tries. Simon Mason kicked Widnes back into their 22 and Anselmians capitalised.

Two tries from flanker T Liku in the first 16 minutes sealed Widnes’s fate. Both tries were as a result of strong running from the backs, especially Marcus Coast, who was outstanding.

A penalty on 21 minutes just inside the Widnes half gave the home side a 16-0 lead.

And then on 40 minutes prop Tuanga went over the top of a ruck to score. Mason converted to give a score of 20-0. However, into injury time and Widnes scored straight from the kick off as Anselmians went to sleep.

The score at half time was 20-7.

In the second half Widnes got back into contention with an early penalty and the score was 20-10.

Two minutes later Mason converted a penalty to stretch Anselmians lead to 23-10. An injury and then a sin bin led to a Widnes comeback and they exploited the advantage with a penalty and a try to give a score of 23-18.

With three minutes to go Mason kicked what turned out to be the winning points, from a distance of 45 metres. The score was 26-18.

However, there was still drama as Widnes, deep into injury time, got a breakaway try and a conversion to give a score of 26-25.

Anselmians had grit, determination and strong captaincy from Matt Pennington to give them the spirit to hold on for a further nail biting two minutes to clinch the title and to be proclaimed champions of South Lancs/Cheshire Division One.

TREVOR PETTERSON