Ashton Under Lyne 22 - 17 Bolton

...and played its home games on a council pitch that made the average Tough Mudder course look like the centre court at Wimbledon. Local established clubs (we're looking at you Bury) refused to give the club a fixture and the players had to work hard just to keep things going. The advent of leagues coincided with the move to the current location in Avenue Street and since then the club has been largely on the up and up and a source of pride for the original members. The members of the club who made that move out of the pub now call themselves Compost Corner and give the first team great support home and away. They have worked hard to get the club to where it is having, literally, built it from its humble origins and fought hard to gain acceptance amongst the rugby hierarchy. In recent season they have watched some decent rugby and have been appreciative of the modern generation's efforts, but this week they got themselves wet and cold for no good purpose.

The joy of sport is the uncertainty: if all matches were played on paper then there would be no point in turning up to watch as the supposedly better team would win every time. So when Ashton under Lyne without a win this season entertained a Bolton side with back to back bonus point victories there seemed to be only one possible outcome. But whilst the home team were clearly up for the fight the visitors were strangely out of sorts: it was apparent that the conditions, the referee and the opposition were not to their liking. Ashton took one look at their higher-placed opponents, saw there was nothing to fear and set about them with an intensity that Bolton failed to match. Three early penalties and an opportunistic try from a Bolton slip on their own try line saw Ashton 16-0 up late in the first half, and although the visitors had had opportunities of their own the Ashton defence was tenacious as the conditions took the pace out of their attacks. The loss of captain Chris Cockton and main ball carrier Louis Critchlow to injuries forced some regrouping, but a Mike Mills penalty on the stroke of half time was all Bolton had to show for their efforts in the first half.

So 16-3 at half time, but Bolton started much better in the second half and converted tries by Will Bate and Jack Robinson took them 17-16 ahead with a quarter of the game left. With Louis Townsend, Mark Chappelhow and Chris Mee gaining some control up front it seemed only a matter of time before the visitors stretched away. But Ashton's defence held firm as this all too brief flurry dissipated and they once more came back into the match. Bolton began to look around for team mates to take responsibility as the pressure grew and with a yellow card for the visitors Ashton sensed a win was on the cards and went for the kill. The fight seemed to go out of Bolton as two penalties took the home team back into the lead and they killed the game off expertly in the final 10 minutes for a well-deserved victory.

The league system is now a mature one and it is to be expected that teams at the same level will be competitive against one another. It appeared as though Bolton thought they merely had to turn up to win and credit must go to Ashton for showing the determination and grit necessary to win on days such as Saturday. Player for player the gentlemen of Compost Corner might not measure up to their current day counterparts in terms of rugby skills – although they would argue the contrary at great length and over a great many beers – but they would certainly have put up a better fight.

MoM – Louis Townsend