Higgy still in trouble

North-West Counties League

HIGGINSHAW went down 22-4 at a powerful Eccles and Salford Juniors side in division four to stay second bottom of the table.

After conceding a soft try on six minutes, the visitors — for whom David Sweeney was man-of-the-match for the third game running — tried their best to get back into the game, with Dane Armstrong going very close midway through the half.

Eccles then added a second try, after which point the game ebbed and flowed from one end to the other. Ex-St Anne's man Craig Milner, making his comeback from an horrific broken leg which ruled him out of the sport for two years, lasted 20 minutes and produced some astute passes and good tackling which suggest he will be an asset.

Eccles then moved further in front before a good try from Adam Horabin in the corner, preceded by great build-up play from Sweeney, Armstrong and Alan Dunn, provided Higgy with their sole score of the afternoon.

Horabin then couldn't quite get the ball to Paul Turner when a walk-in try was on the cards for the visitors and Eccles wrapped the game up with a further score five minutes from time.

Sweeney aside, Michael Jewitt, Horabin, Dunn, full-back Mark Ward and Sean Stubbs stood out for Higginshaw, who have a home game this Saturday against Waterhead 'A' (2pm).

Rochdale Cobras — without a new permanent coach since the resignation of Sid Miller — played out their first game in two months and chalked up a 38-0 victory over a young Leigh East 'A' team in division six.

It took the Cobras a while to get into the contest, but once settled they soon started racking up the tries.

Caretaker coach Kev Lowe saw his side score their first after 12 minutes, full-back Liam Hughes finding Lawler crashing over with Adam Butterworth converting.

Walsh was next in out wide, followed by Charles off Steve Chadwick's fine offload, Butterworth again adding the extras.

The second half followed a similar pattern, with the strong Cobras defence forcing Easts into a number of handling errors.

Stand-off Gaz Wood twice went over after splitting the defence, Butterworth converting them both, before brother Steve Wood broke two tackles to crash over, Chadwick converting. Walsh got a second to round off the scoring.

The division one match between Bold Miners and Oldham St Anne's 'A', the division three clash featuring Saddleworth Rangers 'A' and Dalton, and the division four game with Leyland Warriors and Waterhead were all postponed.