WIRRAL continued their excellent start to 2013 with a hard fought 17-0 win over third placed Carlisle.
It was the Wirral pack that paved the way for this victory and as early as the 12th minute after a succession of scrums and penalties in their favour on the Carlisle line the referee had no option but to award Wirral a penalty try, which was duly converted.
Astute kicking from Wirral took play into the Carlisle 22m area in the 20th minute where they forced Carlisle to lose possession and from the resultant scrum a good move between fly half and the back row saw No 8 Rob Pearl crashing over close to the posts, which was again converted by Dan Harvey.
This was virtually the end of the scoring, as both sides set up attacking positions but the defences came out on top. The second half saw greater pressure from Wirral but they could not translate this into points. Victory was sealed in the 52nd minute with a well taken drop goal by Craig Harvey. Thereafter Wirral forwards controlled the game and in the final minutes a skirmish led to a player from each side being dismissed.
This win restores Wirral to sixth place and next week they have another home match against fifth place Widnes, which should be a highly competitive game.
