South Lancs/Cheshire League - Division Two North
Duckinfield 43, Oswestry Eagles 5

A MUCH changed Oswestry side slumped to a heavy defeat on their trip to Duckinfield in a bad tempered match which saw James Luckett score the Eagles only try of the afternoon on his first start for the club.

The fixture was marred by a number of punch-ups as Duckinfield continued their hunt for promotion by staying in third spot and running in seven tries while Oswestry remain in seventh place having lost their last three matches in succession.
 

However, Eagles coach Don Howell refused to be downbeat following the defeat as he continues to rebuild the side having handed debuts to both Dale Downes and Will Groombridge ahead of next season's campaign.
 

"We are giving the youngsters a chance to get first team experience," Don said.
"However, our problem on the pitch is consistency but we are playing some good stuff and the team is in good spirits.
"The side may lack experience and we need to improve our decision-making but there is plenty of commitment and we are all working together.
"We aim to finish in mid-table and a couple more wins will keep us well away from any relegation battle.
"Until recently we were unbeaten at home and we are looking at Saturday's visit of Oldershaw to get us back to winning ways after beating them earlier in the season," he added.
 

Oswestry failed to respond to two first-half Duckinfield tries after seeing an early penalty shave the post to trail 12-0 at the interval.
And they shipped five more in the second-half before a consistent spell of Eagles pressure late in the game allowed Luckett to profit from good work by the forwards to give Oswestry some consolation.
 

The Eagles take on ninth-placed Oldershaw at Granville Park this Saturday from 2.15pm.

Raging Bull North West League - Division Three South
Oswestry Eagles Seconds 19, Altrincham Kersal 0

 OSWESTRY came out on top in convincing fashion in the battle of the league's bottom two with the Eagles second string climbing up two places courtesy of their fifth home win of the season.
 

Eagles captain Jerry Wilford, Iwan Ellis and Sam Wright all crossed the line for Oswestry as Altincham offered little in reply, with the Eagles extracting revenge for their defeat to the Kersal side earlier in the season in what has proved to be their only win so far during the campaign.
 

After being held up by some strong tackling from the visitors, Oswestry gained the territorial advantage through the running of Tyler Morris and the breakthrough came when an incision from Wright saw him cut through the centre of the field before offloading the ball to Wilford who worked the ball wide before Dan Williams, Ellis and Richard Lumby interchanged for Wilford to run in the easiest of converted tries.


The Eagles came out for the second-half on the front foot, working the ball to the Altrincham 22 before being awarded a scrum just five metres out despite appearing to have touched down over the line after good work from the forwards.
 

However, although the chance came to nothing, they soon created an opportunity for Ellis who went over in the corner following a blistering run out wide before Altrincham tried to force their way back into the game.
 

But the Oswestry defence held firm and they broke free once more only for Ellis to be held up just short of the line in his attempt to score his second try of the afternoon.


Wright went on to add the Eagles third with the successful conversion wrapping up the win ahead of this Saturday's trip to Sandbach as they look to build on the result.