Panthers on the Prowl with Away Victory

Something is certainly stirring in the Woodlands. The Fylde based Blackpool Panthers having lost 46 consecutive games in a row, are now making people in the Rugby League world sit up and take notice as they recorded their second victory in four Co-operative National League Division 2 games to leave daylight between them and the bottom two as they lie in uncharted waters of 10th in the division.

If their historic victory against Workington a month ago could be put down as possibly fortunate and a one off, this impressive victory in the heartlands of Rugby League could only be classed as deserved.

As early as the fourth minute classy stand off Matt Ashe cleverly gathered his own deft kick to score under the posts to leave Jon Leather with a simple conversion to leave the visitors 6-0 in front.

This stung the home side into action and quick fire unconverted tries by winger Dunbar and hooker Chapman gave Hunslet an early 8-6 lead.

The game remained closely contested until Hunslet conceded a penalty close to their own line, and whilst the defence was sorting its self out a quick play the ball saw Dave Llewelyn scamper over for an unconverted try in the corner to give the visitors a 10-6 lead.

Hunslet winger Scott Phillips made a magnificent break of over 80 yards before being tackled by the impressive Leather on the Panthers line. From the resultant play scrum half Paul Hasty scored close enough to the posts for Dean Townsend to convert to leave the hosts with a 14-10 interval lead.

It was imperative that the Panthers scored first in the second half, and they did so in magnificent fashion. Matt Ashe gained 60 yards with a monster touch finding kick and from the resulting scrum skipper Paul Anderson broke from the base of the scrum to dash 20 yards to score an unconverted try in the corner. This levelled the scores at 14-14.
A period of Hunslet pressure saw them regain the lead with a converted try by prop forward Hurst to regain the lead 20-14.

They held this lead until the 57th minute when in a eight minute spell the Panthers scored three fine tries to put them out of sight. First Man of the Match Jon Clough evaded two tacklers to score an unconverted try after a sustained period of pressure to reduce the arrears to 20-18. Kris Ratcliffe bettered this 2 minutes later by ploughing over the try line with three tacklers hanging on to him for Paul Ashton to convert to lead 24-20.

Jon Leather then raced 30 yards to score under the posts for Paul Ashton to again convert to open up a 30-20 lead that always looked beyond the shell shocked home side.

Hunslet rallied to score again to reduce the lead to 30-24 but the Panthers had the last say when Damien Munro raced over to score under the posts to be converted by Ashton to leave the visitors worthy winners by 36-24.

This win was far more impressive than their win against Workington and the Panthers will be looking to continue their rise up the table when they entertain Swinton on Sunday at the Woodlands (3pm).

Panthers Team.
Leather, Gillam, Llewelyn, Munro, Weed. Ashe, Ashton, Warriner, Clough, Fairhurst, Anderson, Ratcliffe, Duell. Subs (all used), Tunstead, Wallace (Andy), Kaye, Wallace (Mick)

Penalty count 8-5.

Man of the Match. Jon Clough

Referee M. Thomason.