Rugby league: National Conference League Division Two

Last updated 15:54, Wednesday, 23 April 2008

EGREMONT Rangers’ hopes of ending their season on a positive note with victory over promotion-chasing Milford at Gillfoot Park were wrecked by a wretched opening quarter.

Incredibly, Rangers had fallen behind by a scarcely credible 22 points by just the 15th minute of the game, and although they made a decent fist of the remainder of the match, as a contest it had effectively ended with barely a shot fired in anger by the home side.

Milford needed no largesse on the part of their hosts. Business-like and crisp in their actions, they looked exactly like a team closing in on the remaining promotion place.

They struck first after just four minutes, when winger Michael Watts opened the scoring with a try in the right hand corner.

He was quickly followed across by namesake and stand-off, Mark, who also added the conversion. The third try came after just 10 minutes when second-row man Barker went over and Watts again added the conversion.

It could hardly have been worse for the home side, who had hardly touched the ball, but crucially two of those first three tries had come after needlessly conceded penalties had gifted Milford valuable field position, undermining any hard work that had been done in defence.

Egremont struck back on the half hour with a beautifully worked try by winger John Hartley, who finished well in the corner after excellent ball movement across the pitch.

And three minutes before the interval, he repeated the feat in almost identical fashion – good handling to the right and an accomplished finish – to narrow the half-time defecit to 22-8.

Tthe second half was a much more encouraging period for Egremont.

Brown made one excellent break but the opening try of the half came at the other end of the pitch through Watts.

Egremont continued to press and were rewarded with a try by prop-forward Richard Farrer, who stretched across to score after the ball had been enterprisingly kept alive.

Brocklebank added a good conversion, the final points of the season for Egremont, although Milford had the final word when substitute Fawcett crossed and Watts added the conversion.

In a sense, the game encapsulated Egremont’s season – good in parts but seriously flawed in others.

The season has been blighted by inconsistency and injury, and even in this final game, substitute Tom Robson was stretchered from the field with a serious looking back injury after being heavily upended by a Milford tackle.