Ilkley double helps Wirral to move up table

This was another must win game for Wirral as they looked to move away from the relegation zone and they achieved the win against bottom placed Ilkley, who had to field a weakened side due to injuries - an aspect that Wirral have had over the past 2-3 months, writes Richard McNeil.

The first Wirral try did not come until the 20th minute when a kick from the home side was fielded by James Annetts before setting up a break by Matt Loon who then released Josh Connolly who ran in from 15m to score.

With ball in hand Wirral found that they could make progress up the field and in the 25th minute, a James Reeve pass saw Hayden Long touchdown despite the attention of a number of would be tacklers, the conversion by James Annetts gave Wirral a 0-12 lead.

Five minutes before the break an excellent Chris Crowley break was stopped 2 metres from the line but quickly recycled ball allowed Matt Ringer to score out wide, again converted to leave Wirral with a 0-19 half time lead.

Shortly after the restart, Wirral scored their fourth try and importantly the try bonus point when a break on the blind side from a scrum led to Rob Pearl putting in Matt Loon for a try in the corner, again converted.

On 48 minutes, Wirral scored their fifth try when a cross kick from Craig Harvey, found Matt Ringer, who had only to collect the ball before scoring to leave the score 0-31, shortly after scoring Matt had to leave the field with an injured leg.

This was followed by some pressure from Ilkley with ball retention in the Wirral 20m area but again the away defence held out although Ilkley did appear to score but the winger was deemed to have been held up over the line.

The final try came on the break when Chris Crowley released James Annetts some 50m out and he outpaced the opposition to touch down under the posts and convert his own try.

The score line could have been greater in Wirral’s favour if they had capitalised on their breaks as three scoring opportunities were brought back for forward passes. Nevertheless this win enables Wirral to climb out of the relegation zone and now equal on points with the team 6th from the bottom. It is imperative that they now win their remaining home matches.