Sandbach made no mistake at Aspatria but were certainly getting the shakes at half-time when they only held a 10:11 advantage. Class told in the second 40 and they ran out clear winners in a good contest. So congratulations to Sandbach who once more are head of the heap.

Widnes, Northwich and Leigh continue the chase with The Weaver men probably best equipped to split the top two – if of course anyone can. Saturday’s upcoming fixtures does not suggest that there will be any change at the top. However, in the next few weeks there are plenty of opportunities arising for chasing sides to lower the flag’s of the top two. Also the weather must shortly play apart. At this juncture last season games were being called off on a weekly basis as the hard Winter bit in. No sign of it this season but a change in conditions might also change the fortunes of one of two sides.

My team of the week is Wilmslow for their entirely unexpected victory over Vale of Lune.

Early season predictions that Vale of Lune would be in the title mix now seem wide of the mark as the Lancaster side went down in a shock result at Wilmslow. On their day Vale seem capable of matching anyone but they never seem to have two of these days in succession. They have now lost 5 and in any ‘normal’ season this number of defeats kills any promotion ambition stone dead. However, where there’s life there’s hope – Vale host front runners Leigh on Saturday and then travel to the other surprise package of the season Widnes a week later. Two victories and you never know. The flames on the banks of The Lune might just be rekindled. Defeat in either one and the curtain is drawn over the coffin and ‘I did it my way’ plays in the background.

Down at the bottom the Cumbrian Three are huddled together for warmth. The simple fact is that they all cannot survive. The question is can any save themselves. Not surprisingly the away form of the bottom 6 is poor and somewhere along the line the Cumbria trio have got to get an away result against one of their rivals. Aspatria will get the chance on Saturday when they go to Rochdale. Carlisle and Wigton have tough looking games against Widnes and Broughton Park. Anything from these encounters will be welcome

At the outset of the season the rough calculation was that 7 wins would be a minimum for league survival. This still hold true but a more likely scenario is now 8 wins and a handful of bonus points. The beauty of this league is that no one is giving up the fight and as Aspatria have shown during most games they can ‘best’ the ‘best’ for periods in a game but at this stage not sustain it. Can they get 7 more wins from 16 games? At this stage a massive ask but not impossible.

What do you think?

League Statistics

Current Winning Streak : Sandbach 2
Season Winning Streak : Sandbach and LSH - 7

Current Losing Streak : Wigton - 7
Season Losing Streak : Wigton – 7

Away Records : LSH lost the last unbeaten away record in Round 10 when they were beaten at Northwich. LSH’s streak of 5 remains the best this season as does their 5 from 6 record.

Home Records : Tow sides retain an unbeaten record - Sandbach [5] and Broughton Park [5]

Winless Away : Rochdale, Wilmslow, Anselmians and Aspatria
Winless Home : Wigton

Top 5 Attacks
Last Season’s Top Team : LSH 30.42 points per game

1. Vale of Lune – 33.00 points scored per game
2. Sandbach - 27.90
3. LSH – 26.90
4. Widnes – 26.80
5. Leigh – 25.00

Top 5 Defences
Last Season’s Top Team : Burnage 11.73 points per game

1. LSH – 13.10 points per game conceded
2. Sandbach – 15.30
3. Northwich – 16.70
4. Leigh – 18.00
5. Widnes – 18.70

Lowest Points Average Per Game : 27.42 in Round 6 – 8th October
Highest Points Average Per Game : 57.14 in Round 2 – 10th September
Overall Average Points Scored Per Game : 44.24
Highest Score : Wirral 70 v Aspatria
Highest Aggregate : Wirral v Aspatria – 99 points scored

Teams Nilled This Season
Carlisle [2] - Rochdale [1] – Wilmslow [1]

Draws
Last season there were 8 drawn games in N1W [4.39% of all games played]. Put another way - a draw for approximately every 22 games played. This season 70 games have been played with 1 tie [1.43% of all games played]. So more tied games are well overdue.

Bonus Point Kings

Most Bonus Points - Leigh and Rochdale - 9
Most 4 Try Bonus Points – Leigh - 6
Most Losing Bonus Points – Rochdale - 5