Bury 40-10 Little Hulton

Great win for us in the big derby today after receiving a few 'digs' from a couple of LH boys on various social media through the week. Took control early on, scoring a length of the field try on 2 minutes and never looked back, running in several nice tries to lead 28-0 at half time (with kicks could have been 36). Second half was more even as LH had the slope and upped their running, and a sloppy bit of defence let them in to score but we never looked like conceding many. Their big lads (and they have a few) kept going but seemed to drop off as the game wore on.

Nice to do the double over our friends at LH.

Latchford A have conceded our game tomorrow - looks like the 82-0 result last time put them off.



Our A team have got Eccles A in the 'Rail Life' Cup so we'll be off to support them.

Come to Aston and watch a proper team

Ashton Bears A 32-22 Widnes Tigers.
The Bears deservedly got revenge for an 18-0 loss earlier in the season in another bruising game. Lots of big hits & brutal tackling from both sides. It's a pity the ref was so inconsistent in letting the hits get too high at times. Credit to the Tigers who went down to 11 men for a spell & still kept their line intact. A big local derby for us next week as we entertain near neighbours Wigan Bulldogs.

Without wanting to pour scorn on Ashton's victory yesterday, we were 8 players out yesterday(myself included) who would almost certainly have featured. This was the one week we knew would be tough on our numbers and one we couldn't really afford to lose, however the previous 12 game unbeaten run we were on shows how far we have come since the first few weeks of the season, and I am also confident that this was just a blip. Now looking for a strong finish to the season and a positive playoff series!

Orrell pasted Wigan yesterday, that surprised me as IMO Wigan are a better outfit.

I watched this game yesterday and Widnes Tigers were a disgrace to themselves. You came with a game plan to bully a young Ashton team and came unstuck when this plan didn't work. Your tackling technique, if that's what you could call it, was simply just attack the opponents head. Can see why you may have won 12 on the trot at this level but as you progress up the leagues you may want to concentrate on trying to play rugby rather than knocking skulls! Full credit to Ashton who took everything that was thrown at them (literally) and played some excellent rugby.

Don't you worry about us Millsy, we have a fine disciplinary record and play a good brand of rugby. After all, this isn't tiddlywinks. I'm not defending any of the players yesterday by the way, I have been told some let themselves down and I assure you this isn't the case week on week and certainly isn't how or why we had won 12 on the spin, I'm also confident that had we been able to field our strongest side, we would have dispatched Ashton comfortably.

The players missing affects all teams & we ourselves had 5 1st choice players missing so its swings & roundabouts really. We travelled to your place earlier in the season with 15, only 1 recognised half back & no recognised 7, 9, 1 and two props over 40 so it's not like we've not had it tough at times this season. I think you'll have a big say in the play offs, I think we've left it a bit late but the finish to the seasons going to be as close as the leagues been all season.

We were shocking yesterday. Our discipline was awful and we let ourselves down. We didn't have any game plan to bully or smash skulls. We were simply outdone by pace of ur young guns. We arnt a dirty side but I can see why us think that based on yesterday. We've certainly had a bollocking from our coach about it, the high shots didn't have any malice in them and as u could see no brawls started. The one time it could have kicked off the senior players from the tigers did try to defuse the situation. I myself who played prop yesterday cringed at some of the penalties we have away. Credit to your team who stuck to the game and simply outplayed us. I wish u all the best for the season.

To be fair whenever we've played Tigers it's been a tough but clean game - never had any issues with them (unlike some other teams I could mention). Same with Ashton - teams we know will play hard but fair and always enjoy meeting. Some great results for us this weekend, the season is hotting up nicely for a big run-in!

Our 2nd team went down 34-6 to Eccles 'A' in the cup, a proud performance against a strong squad including several NCL players and lads from De La Salle RU. Seems Eccles had been talking about putting a cricket score on us but our lads stood up and played well though Eccles' strong runners proved a little too much in the end.

One sore point - a disgusting high elbow to the face right in front of the ref which he "didn't see", that has led to hospital and dental treatment. The lad concerned knew full well what he was doing and who he was targeting. While a lot of our lads know Eccles players and a few have played there in the past, and we therefore expected a few shenanigans, this was too far and the dog act of a f*cking coward. Bang out of order.

Seen the video on the Bury website. very nasty cheap shot.

There lies the problem Dipper. You should have been at #6!!

I note Latchford have withdrawn from Div 4, so now that's the two 'A' teams out of the league. This annoys me, these 2nd teams(Ashton aside, obviously) ruin leagues. They are e one week and then when their firsts have no game they are good and give a false representation of results. IMO all 'A' teams - except those who have fulfilled 80%+ of their fixtures should be put in the same leagues(whether that be 1 or 2 divisions) and let them each other around rather than sides that want regular fixtures against teams of similar standard. Get Blackpool, Hope Valley, Rochdale Cobras into a competitive environment and get shut of these time wasters!!

Bury 102 - 12 Mancunians

Not much to be said really! With several key players missing we thought this might be a tougher challenge but mancs were never in it, for all their will their inexperience showed and soon became one way traffic. Everything clicked for us today, a club record score and margin.

Last time we won by a big margin we lost the week after!



Run of derby games continues with Westhoughton and then Bolton....then the big matches with Tigers and St. James back to back...

Ashton Bears A 28-50 Wigan Bulldogs.
No complaints from us, beaten by the better team on the day. We had some key players in the 1st team the beat Potico in the cup & lost our 9 injured in the warm up so we were a little disrupted from last weeks team. Take nothing away from Bulldogs though who played very well & looked worthy of their top of the league status.

Our ref was late so we started the game with Cliff Tamou riffing the 1st 10 minutes, when the ref arrived he insisted on doing his own 40 minute 1st half plus stoppages too so the lads were glad to get the break when it eventually came!

Westhoughton 4 - 54 Bury

A big win considering we were massively depleted this weekend, so much so the 2nds game had to be conceded and the 1sts was an unfamiliar line-up. But the boys turned on a superb performance, never letting Westhoughton into the game and running in some nice tries. Lads were disappointed not to score more and gutted at the sloppy defence to concede a try. Ref blew up 10 minutes early.

Looks like New Springs have gone the way of Hindley A and Latchford A and withdrawn from the league. Shame really, Div 4 had been one of the best for game completion.

Ashton Bears A 26-24 Little Hulton
A last minute try won a game that looked like it was out of our reach being behind 16-24 with 7 minutes to go. A very hard fought game in which LH used their big forwards well but we showed plenty of heart to claw our way back into it. I'd think the play offs are out of our reach but we'll keep going.

Pity about New Springs & I hope the back end of the season doesn't fall apart. The number of 24-0's seems to be increasing, be sad to see more teams fold.

Bury 62 - 4 Bolton Mets

Another high scoring win for us against a Bolton side weakened by quite a few lads having gone to Wembley. Despite the scoreline not a good performance, completion and decision making was terrible at times but some nice tries scored and defence was solid.

Two big weeks for us now - Orrell and Widnes away. Need to improve because they won't be so forgiving. These runaway wins are all very nice but not the best preparation for the harder games.

OSJ 42 - 16 Bury

Not surprised at all by the result today and by all accounts we gifted OSJ the game through errors and shoddy defence and a terrible performance. We'd been struggling for a squad the last few days and to make matters worse a few lads then let us down this morning which meant last minute call-ups, several lads from the 2nds and a few making their 1sts debuts.

Disappointing to lose in that manner, would rather have lost with a strong squad and a tough game but credit to OSJ, they played what was in front of them and took it comfortably.

Ashton Bears A 34-18 Burtonwood Bridge.
A decent game that ensured both sides had a run out on an otherwise free Saturday. The Bears opened the scoring & stayed in control with some enterprising rugby. Bridge posed our defence some problems with their big forwards but the stuff we've been working on worked out. Both sides had lots of subs and everyone seemed to get a run out, it gave us a chance to have a look at a couple of new signings so overall a good day. Back to league action next week as we host Chester.

We were hoping for a Bury favour yesterday, but I suppose the result is ok for us with Bury now 4 points adrift after Fitton Hill have us a late call(after telling us 40 mins earlier they were coming, can't say I'm surprised tbh) so Bury have Tigers and then a load of walkovers to end the season, how will that effect your playoff chances with no game for the last month? How do you think the top 2 will finish? I'm hoping Orrell finish 1st so we can go to the Bulldogs in the playoffs, few wrongs to put right!!

We've Chester still to play or do you know something we don't yet?

No mate I'm being facetious! With union season starting they will be 5 or 6 down on their small squad anyway! I'd place a safe bet they won't travel to Bury!

It'll be interesting to see if Chester travel to us next Saturday, that should give an idea as to how their seasons going to pan out.
In terms of finishing top I'd say Bulldogs are favourites as OSJ still have to play Bulldogs, Tigers as well as going up to Fitton Hill. Then we still have a fixture to be rearranged at their place. If they do get through all those games it'll be the longest run they've had this season without a free weekend due to the opposition conceding.