Wirral travelled to Wigan with a full squad and seeking the win which would clinch promotion to North 1 West.
The only changes being Colin Dyer in for Dave Doneo, who was resting his injured knee and Ollie Atkinson in for Stu Hughes. On the bench were Ryan Harvey, Matt Brown and Stu Hughes.

The early pressure was from Wigan and they spurned a penalty kick chance for a kick to touch, which was an indication as to how they were to play the game- in their forwards. However a well timed tackle by Robbie Pearl gave Wirral quick turnover ball and the ball was passed down the line, where Phil Donaldson delayed his pass to Ali Baker, which when undertaken gave Ali a free run of 30m to the line where he scored some 20m from the posts. Danny Harvey duly converted, 0-7 (10 mins).

Both defences were on top and Wirral were being denied good ball to set up the three quarters but after 25 minutes, Wigan had the ball in the Wirral 22 and after a number of forward surges they scored 10m in from touch, the try was not converted. Wigan then took the lead 10 minutes later with a penalty from some 30m to give them an 8-7 lead at half time, with Wirral down to 14 men having had Ross Page sin binned.

From the restart, Wirral hacked the ball some 10m, with Phil Donaldson first to react and taking control of the ball, but Wigan committed an offence and from 35m centre field, Sam Broadbent converted to restore Wirral's lead 8-10. Six minutes later Wirral extended their lead when a high kick by Danny Harvey was caught by the Wigan full back but was quickly tackled by Danny and the Wirral back row, they secured the ball and a pop pass to Ali Baker saw him stroll over for a try from 34m out to score under the posts, Danny converted 8-17.

The lead was extended to 8-20 when a push at the line out enabled Sam Broadbent to land his second penalty, at this stage a further score would have put Wirral 3 scores ahead. On 14 minutes , Rob Pearl was sin binned for an "obstruction"on a kick through which resulted in a Wigan penalty 5m from the line and from where Wigan exerted much pressure. Ryan Harvey came on at this stage for Colin Dyer. Eight minutes later Wirral were down to 13 players when Tim Hodson upset the referee. At this stage of the match, Wigan were camped in the Wirral 22 and Wigan were exerting the pressure again and eventually Wirral succumbed when the Wigan scrum half dived under would be tacklers from 2m out to score, the try was converted 15-20.

There was some 20 minutes remaining and Wirral continued to withstand the Wigan forward pressure and occasionally managed to gain possession to clear the ball out of the 22. In the 44 th minute of actual playing time, Ben Marsh was sin binned but still Wigan's attempts were thwarted, surely Wirral had held out. Another scoring opportunity was stopped and Wigan threw the ball down the line only for the winger to knock on but the referee then ran to the posts to award a penalty try for persistent infringements and thus Wigan won the game with the conversion from in front of the posts. There was no time for Wirral as the final whistle went in a half which lasted at least 47 minutes.

On reflection, Wigan had the territory and possession and deserved to win the game but credit must go to the manner in which Wirral defended their line when down to 7 forwards for much of the second half. Whilst the Wirral team might feel hard done by and disappointed, they knew at that time that still had 3 further games to secure the win they required.

Next week is the last home league fixture of the season for the first team against Oswestry and a large crowd is expected to thank the team for the rugby they have played this season and, hopefully, celebrate promotion.

Richard McNeil