TWO tries in the last seven minutes saw Latchford Albion claim a 28-20 victory after an end to end encounter with a resilient Ulverston side at Victoria Park.
The hosts got off to a great start, when stand off Matty Rudd showed great vision to find a gap and dummy his way through the oncoming defence to open the scoring.
From the resulting restart, Latchford gifted possession to the visitors, and they took full advantage to cross and level the scores.
On 20 minutes Albion regained the lead. Following a initial break from impressive hooker Jack Phillips, half back Matty Ellis’ clever kick was collected by Jamie Birchall, who outjumped the Ulverston full back to touch down near the posts, Rudd adding the conversion.
Again the visitors responded strongly. A kick was gathered by the Latchford defence, but a one on one ball steal allowed them to gain possession and register their second try of the afternoon.
A torrential downpour then made conditions difficult, and with the scoreboard not being troubled further, the half time score saw the game firmly in the balance at Latchford 10 Ulverston 8.
As with the first half, the hosts started the strongest and extended their lead on 44 minutes. Albion chose to run the ball on the last tackle, and the ball made its way out wide to centre Ben Harper, who had enough room to allow him to cross out in the left corner, Rudd’s conversion gave Latchford a two score lead and put them in control of the game.
Credit to an organised Ulverston side, who re-grouped , and hit the hosts with two converted tries on 48 and 60 minutes to seize the initiative and take the lead for the first time of the afternoon.
The Albion pack then raised their game with Jack Foulkes, Danny Brown, and Charlie McCurrie all making valuable yards allowing the backs the space to play rugby. This paid dividends on 73 minutes, when the ball was worked out wide across the line , allowing Harper the opportunity to cross for his second try of the afternoon, Rudd’s superb touch line conversion nudging Albion into the lead 22-20 going into the closing minutes.
Some fantastic Latchford defence repelled any potential threats from Ulverston, and the victory was sealed in the last minute when full back Alex Davies joined the line at speed and darted thorough a gap in the visitors’ defence to score in the right corner, with Rudd’s conversion rounding off a fantastic victory for the hosts, which also saw them regain top spot in the NWML Division One table.
Due to the Challenge Cup final, Albion have no game this weekend, but they return to action Saturday July 24, when they host Widnes Moorfield Tigers 2.30pm. It is hoped spectators will be allowed into the stadium for this fixture, so please look out for the official announcement on our social media pages.
Picture, courtesy of MKS Rugby Photography, is of Man of the Mtch Charlie McCurrie, who played over 65 minutes at prop forward, and whose breaks help put Albion on the front foot.
