Luctonians 15 pts Longton 20

LUCTONIANS suffered their first defeat of the season - and their first at home in nearly a year - when their uncharacteristically mistake-ridden attack was humbled by a determined Longton side.

Luctonians came under pressure from the onset before winning the ball back, only to turn it over to Longton fly-half Tony Wheat who sweetly struck a drop goal from in front of the posts.

Left-wing Gary Howsen then crossed in the corner to give the Stoke-on-Trent visitors an 8-0 lead.

Luctonians fortunes were not helped by centre Roger Chilman being led from the field when he was left dazed after midfield collision with the Longton defence. But they rallied and got on the scoreboard with a well-struck penalty from fly-half Anton Pilli.

But, in attempt to exploit some holes in the Longton defence, a flue-suffering Pilli uncharacteristically committed a handling error which in turn led to an excellent solo effort by Longton full-back Paul Green who scored in the corner. Wheat missed the conversion before Luctonians rallied once again.

Pilli then turned his game to overdrive and, shortly after his try was disallowed by the referee, number eight Andrew Morris scored from a well-rehearsed set piece. Pilli missed the conversion and Longton led 13-8 at half-time.

Just minutes into the second half, when Luctonians were looking to regain control of the game, Longton broke from deep in their own territory and Sam Price finished some good handling to score a try which Wheat converted for a 12-point lead.

From that time on Luctonians had the vast majority of the ball, yet still found it difficult to hold on to passes and break the visitors' solid midfield defence.

Relief finally came when a long ball from Pilli hit centre Jon Goodwin running into a rare midfield hole. Goodwin then found a storming James Owen who finished neatly next to the posts which, with Pilli's conversion, offered Luctonians some hope at 20-15.

The home side then pressured strongly until the finish but Longton's steel saw them through for a deserved victory against an out-of-sorts home team.