Fearns High year-11 42 Haslingden High year-11 32

JABRAN Farooq showed he had not lost his eye for goal with a deadly individual display that sealed victory.

Fearn's top scorer last season made an early claim to top this year's scoring charts with a 22-point haul that finally saw off battling Haslingden High.

The match was evenly poised up until the half way stage with the scores level on 19-19.

But Haslingden had a 'nightmare' of an opening to the second period when Fearns scored nine points without reply and the visitors never recovered.

Fearns, playing their first game of the season, raced to a 9-0 lead but Haslingden made a spirited fight-back.

Having already won their first game of the season against All Saints, Haslingden were not lacking in any confidence. And it showed as they drew level at half time.

But a tactical masterstroke by Fearns' coach Steve Sale, where he changed to zone defence - area marking rather than man-to-man marking - seemed to do the trick.

Fearns again opened up a nine point lead but this time they did not let it slip.

Instead they shut up shop in defence and the match closed with tit-for-tat scoring with Fearns eventually winning by 10 points. While Jabran's display certainly caught the eye, it was a real team affair with all but one of the Fearn's players getting on the score sheet. Kristian Evans grabbed six points with Matt Laverty and Adam Clegg scoring four apiece. James Edwards, Chris Doidge and Dan Calter completed the scoring with two points each.

However, although Leslie Dundas did not find the scoresheet this time, he can feel pleased with his contribution to the hard fought victory.

Steve Sale said: "It was a very tough game, in particular in the first half. But we had a good opening second period and never looked back.

"We finished in third place last season so hopefully this win will help us improve this time."

Haslingden's coach Gary Wilson was disappointed with the result following the win against All Saints.

He said: "It was a close game but it could have been a lot closer. We were in it at the break but we had a terrible two minutes in the second half and never really recovered."

Steven Wharton was Haslingden's top scorer with eight points while Akikur Rahman and Michael Larkin each score six points.

Tom Bangay scored five points with Karl Wood (three) and two each from Rob Mullaney and Ian Dunn completed the scoring.

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