Portico 30 Oldham St Annes 16 PORTICO were made to fight all the way for this victory.

St Annes scored first with a well worked move close to the posts.

Within minutes a long ball by Dave Lee sent Lee Haggerty over for his first try.

Oldham had a player sent off for foul play but they did not give up and just before half-time went over in the corner for an unconverted try.

Portico hit straight back in the second half with a strong run by Neil Kearns and fine work on the blind side sent Lee Haggerty in for his second try.

A moment of madness earned Craig Peel the red card reducing Portico to 12 men.

This seems to buck the Panthers up which sent them on a try scoring surge, first was Dave Lee with a superb dummy to put himself under the posts, converted by Gareth Cunningham.

Dave Lee had his hand in the next try also him and Gareth Cunningham combined well to put Lee Cunningham over for his first, which was converted by Lee Cunningham.

Oldham hit back again with a break away try by their backs which was unconverted.

Neil Kearn's powerful 60-metre run was halted 15 metres short but Lee Haggerty ran to the blind and went over for his hat-trick.

Lee Cunningham finished the match in style by scoring under the posts converted by himself, giving Portico a 30-16 victory.

Man of the match was Neil Kearns and top tackler was Decker Sutton.

Halton Hornets under sevens 20

Portico nil

This was a bright display from Portico's youngsters in their first-ever game. Man of the match was Calvin Birchall, top tackler Davis Lee and Marc Webster earned a coaches award.

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