South Lancs & Cheshire Division 1
Wigan 13 Sale F.C. 17
Sale completed the double over Wigan with this win, but it was all down to a tremendous rearguard action in the second half, defending the line as we played the final quarter of the match with only 13 fit players.
We started confidently and dominated play in the opening five minutes, but with their first attack Wigan opened the scoring as we were penalised for not releasing and Wigan captain Andy Whittle made no mistake with the kick. Five minutes later Whittle was again successful with a second penalty as we were caught offside.
Mike Raikes narrowed the gap to three points with a penalty from 35 metres out, and we took the lead with Andrew Baston touching down and Raikes adding the extras for a 10-6 lead. We were having much the better of the play and a break by Jack Moorhouse was stopped just short of the line. With ten minutes remaining in the half a spell of high quality rugby created a four to one overlap and Ciaran Cunningham crossed for the try and with Raikes adding the extras we were up 17-6 at the break.
Wigan had a chance of points early in the second half but a penalty attempt went wide and on 50 minutes injuries to Cunningham and Callum Baldwin restricted us and a few minutes later Ciaran left the field and although Callum stayed on he was clearly in pain. Wigan attacked almost continually but our defence held firm despite the incessant pressure. On the hour “Cookie” Williams took a bad knock to the head in a front-on tackle and he too was unable to continue and with us only having one replacement on the bench we were down to just 13 fit players.
Two minutes later Wigan put together a fine move bringing them a converted try to put us only four points ahead, and we dug deep to keep the Lancastrians at bay with a couple of excellent driving mauls from the pack, two fine clearances from Mike Raikes and first up tackling from all players.
Incredibly, there was almost 18 minutes of added time during which Andrew Baston picked up a yellow card to reduce our playing strength still further and Wigan looked to have taken the spoils with a try wide out, only for the referee to signal a double movement. Committed defence by all in the last few minutes finally secured a deserved victory.
Once again we have taken on league opposition without a full squad, a situation which cannot be justified, and has put us at a distinct disadvantage on a number of occasions this season. With just two matches left let us hope we start both games with a full squad.
Neil Thallon