South Lancs/Cheshire League - Division Two
Oswestry Eagles 22, Oldershaw 0
OSWESTRY Eagles enjoyed their first win of the New Year on Saturday to show the club has plenty of fight for the future after again fielding a mixture of youth and experience to good effect.
The Eagles home form has been good this season and that was in evidence again as the club recovered from a run of three straight defeats to inflict a heavy loss on eleventh placed Oldershaw and put their campaign back on track.
Things looked bleak for Oswestry’s bid for a mid-table finish when they came back from a disappointing trip to the Isle of Man last week with the teams behind them closing the gap on their seventh place spot in recent weeks.
But their ability to put recent woes behind them spoke volumes about their character as they romped to a comfortable win over the visitors.
Chris Crutchley scored Oswestry’s first try when he touched down in the corner after dazzling his way through a shocked Oldershaw defence.
They then scored a second to put themselves 10 points up at the break with Gareth Ellis picking up the ball from the back of the driving pack and bursting over the Oldershaw line.
Gareth Hughes went over for their third of the afternoon as the Eagles reversed some rare Oldershaw pressure with Crutchley adding the extra two points, and the scoreline was complete when Hughes scored his second following good work from Tom Shilito and Morris as he handed off two Oldershaw defenders to leave them in his wake.
Meanwhile, the Oswestry second string went down 23-20 at home to Marple after they surrendered a 20-10 half-time lead.