LATCHFORD Albion fell to a 46-22 defeat at Ashton Bears – but coach Martyn Ellis took a lot of positives from the game.
Albion fielded five of their under 18’s squad against a very established Ashton side, who are undefeated at home for over two seasons and the youngsters were competitive throughout.
The hosts raced into an early 12-0 lead before tries from Josh Barnard and Charlie McCurrie, converted by Rob Marsh made the scores level after 30 minutes.
Albion were hit with two quickfire tries from Ashton which saw them 22-12 ahead at the break
Ashton stepped up a gear in the opening stages of the second half, and a three try blitz in the opening ten minutes threatened to run away with the game.
Credit to Albion who regrouped and reverted back to the game plan. This saw them add further tries from Logan Lagar and Nathan Bond – Bond arguably scoring the try of the game dummying his way through the home defence and then outpacing the oncoming full back to race under the posts.
Martyn Ellis said: ” We had a real good go today against a side who have consistently been up at the top of this division for a number of years. After 30 minutes we were level and matching them play for play, they just had that little bit extra that we are aspiring to reach.
“To score 22 points, which is the most Ashton have conceded all season, shows we have the firepower, and three of our tries came from our under 18’s who every week seem to be getting better and better and are really finding their feet at open age.
Albion have a week off before hosting Halton Farnworth Hornets in their final home fixture of the season.
