Bulldogs grab well-deserved victory

FITTON Hill Bulldogs are up to fifth place in the North-West Men’s League Division Three thanks to a 20-18 victory at Eccleston Lions.

The hosts were first on the scoreboard with a converted try - only for Bulldogs’ man of the match Paul Turner to go in under the posts, with Anthony Hilton adding the conversion.

In a game where both defences were in control, the hosts grabbed their second converted try after Fitton Hill had lost Matt Finn to a broken collarbone and Michael Hall to a serious hip injury. Hall’s injury led to the game being stopped for 30 minutes.

Bulldogs trailed 12-6 at the interval and were forced to dig deep at the beginning of the second half.

But their never-say-die attitude started to shine through as forwards Chris Jones, Gaz Brindley, Rob Godley and Sean Stubbs put in hard effort, while the centre pairing of Hilton and Martin Kenny did well to share the workload in their part of the field.

The visitors found a way back when Lewis Fitton went over. The playe than scored again when he caught Eccleston napping and charged home from 50 metres out.

Hilton converted but Eccleston came back to level at 18-18.

Fitton Hill’s big forwards pushed late in the game, forcing Eccleston offside. Hilton kicked the penalty to grab the Bulldogs the two points they deserved.