9:33am Thursday 23rd April 2009
RECS’ quest to end their 29-year wait for the NWC Premier Division Championship came to an agonising end on Saturday…but they could hardly have gone any closer.
In a match billed as a ‘title decider’, superb Pilks secured the win over Simmies that they needed – but they fell three points short of the victory margin required to claim the title.
To twist the knives in Recs’ broken hearts the players then had to look on as the Widnesians lifted the league trophy at City Road .
John Ledger’s side knew a win would move them level on points with Simmies – but league rules then decide the champions by the head-to-head league records.
The visitors held the advantage, courtesy of a 20-10 win in the corresponding fixture in February, but Recs came close to wiping that out in a pulsating opening half.
After soaking up early pressure, the introduction of giant forward Mike Loughlin from the bench gave the red, amber and blacks impetus.
And they grabbed the first try of the match when powerful prop Rick Shaw forced his way over from acting half back after 26 minutes.
Ryan Rogers thought his conversion had gone over but it was waved away by the referee to leave Recs trailing by four.
The first half was punctuated with stoppages, with Simmies’ hooker Paul Walsh led groggily from the field, the home Pilkington Recs 18 Halton Simms Cross 10 side’s Greg Smith limping off, and talisman Ste Rawsthorne struggling with a groin strain.
Rogers had also been in the wars – but his crisp pass sent centre Nigel Pratt hurtling over.
The conversion was dragged wide – but Recs, attacking down the slope, were building up a head of steam until loose-forward Gary Middlehurst crashed over in the fourth-minute of stoppage time.
The game swung to the visitors and Recs, whom lost both Shaw and John Rees to injury, had to scramble frantically in defence, However, they cracked and Paul Roberts fired over a penalty and then created a try for winger Gavin Conroy to take a two-point advantage.
Needing 13 points in 15 minutes left Recs’ hopes faint, but in the 68th minute Rogers crafted an opening that sent Rawsthorne over.
Smith, who returned to the fray, goaled and, with Recs galvanised, magnificent full back Mark Ashton epitomised their desire by beating hesitant defenders to touch down a kick.
With five minutes to play, one try was all Ledger’s men needed to land the title, but they just could not get within striking distance to pull it off.
Afterwards, Ledger saluted his players’ spirit and hailed their performance as “awesome”.
But when a league record of 17 wins from 18 games doesn’t bring you the championship it is hard to mask the desperate disappointment of finishing runners-up for consecutive years.
The Commhoist man of the match was Ryan Rogers and the C&S players’ player was Mark Ashton.
Widnes Tigers 8 v 22 Pilks A Pilks secured promotion from Division Five with a hard fought win in their final game of the season.
Early tries from Chris Rees and Chris Rigby gave Recs the lead, but a converted try and a penalty from Tigers levelled the scores at 8-8.
Further tries from Frankie Barclay and Ste Charlson gave Pilks a 18-8 half time lead. In a scrappy second half the points were secured when Ian Stanley scored from the last play of the match.
Best for Pilks were Ian Marren, Adam Fogarty and Rigby. Pilks can still be champions if New Spring Lions lose their final match of the season.
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