The supporters were well set when I got there with chairs , gin and carling, on a brisk Easter saturday but the sun shone on Ashton for most of the first half , maybe Ashtons yellow shirts gave the referee a subliminal message as a flurry of 3 Ashton yellows spoiled the game as a sporting contest second half.
Ashton chose to play downhill and out of the boggy end first half and with the wind at their back kicking was difficult to judge. Hope scored first with a converted try on 10 mins. Steve C took a quick tap penalty to himself and sprinted down hill for 40 m for Ashtons opener and had to go off for a rest as the conversion was missed, where was that tee?
Robbo took his place and Ashton were pressing Hope and Riddick took advantage of a floated midfield pass from Hope intercepting for a debut try, although he did have a couple against us. 7-10 the lead . Hope kicked their way upfield and were rewarded with another converted try for 14-10.
Ashton went straight back and Josh Sayle took the ball at pace to barrell over for a try converted by Damien for a lead of 14-17 at HT.
High tackling had become an issue just before HT and Ashtons Steve C was to see yellow for an innocuous looking challenge,and shortly after HT Damien disappeared in similar fashion down to 13 for 8 mins and the writing was on the wall. Jack Schofield had been tackling well , but was poleaxed on one of his numerous carries, the crowd could not understand the inconsistency and more in Hope than expectation began to politely call for some protection for the Ashton youngster.
Hope could have got the bubbly out at that point, but rightly saved it to the end of the game, and congratulations to them for winning the league. A second yellow for Steve C ended his afternoon, and eventually in the dying minutes Hope also got a yellow for a high tackle, but by this time had racked up 4 second half tries against Ashtons depleted but never say die troops who invaded first half at least.
Full Time Hope 42-17 Mashers