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NORTHWICH are in the middle of a relegation dogfight after a last-minute defeat to Vale of Lune.

Northwich travelled to Lancaster for the first time since 1995 - unfortunately the outcome was the same for Northwich as it was 13 years ago.

With superb conditions in a wonderful setting the afternoon seemed ideal for a great match. However, it turned out to be a dour contest which Northwich would sooner forget.

The Blacks started the brighter of the two teams and made inroads into the Vale of Lune territory, led by some great carries from Miratana. They were rewarded with an early penalty opportunity which Hayes narrowly missed.

The Lancastrians then started to have a say in matters and through some ambitious back play found themselves with an easy shot at goal and went into a 3-0 lead at half time thanks to the boot of fly half Foster.

From the restart it was all Northwich in terms of territory and after five minutes some good work from Simpson allowed Steve Campbell the space to score an excellent try under the posts. The conversion by Hayes seemed to cement the Blacks' superiority.

Deep into injury time Chris James was yellow carded for handling on the ground and Vale of Lune were given a penalty centrefield under the posts. Despite committed defending the Blacks could not stop the Vale of Lune forwards driving over the line for the decisive five-pointer.

This was a match Northwich should have won but silly errors contributed to their own downfall.

Northwich: Cartman, Fred Taylor, Gough (James 50 min), Heywood, Simpson, Miratana, Pattenden, Smith (Heath 35 min), Davies, Hayes, Dale, Naylor, Campbell (C), Hosking, Bown.

8:46pm Thursday 14th February 2008

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