Wigan met Thornton Cleveleys in the final of the ADM League cup at Tyldesley, this Saturday afternoon in what was always going to be a tough encounter. Wigan were clear underdogs having been beaten both home and away by league champions elect, Thorton Cleveleys.

The game started in awful fashion for the Douglas Valley men as TC fielded the ball from the kickoff and almost immediately found space down the Wigan right flank. TC’s talented winger took the ball on a rangy break before cutting inside and setting up the try for his centre, to give the Fylde coast side a 0-5 lead in the 1st minute.

Credit must be given to the Wigan side, who steadied the ship and worked their way back into the game. TC attacks were rebuffed time and time again and Wigan began to gain confidence. It was Wayne Bullough who broke the line for Wigan after a period of sustained pressure deep in the opposition 22. Bullough took the ball in tight on the blind side and forced his way over to take the sides level.

Wigan had the momentum now and once again worked their way into excellent attacking position. A speculative chip over the defensive line, by Danny Cassidy was fielded on the bounce by the Thornton Cleveleys centre just 5 yards from his own line. He took the ball into the in-goal area and as he thought about turning to clear the ball, he inexplicably fumbled it, the error was compounded as the TC players watched on stunned as the ball came to rest in-goal and Nathan Butler pounced for an opportunist’s score. Joss Parker added the conversion to give Wigan a 12-5 lead.

The error seemed to shake the TC players and the kickoff was played straight into touch. From the resulting scrum, Sam Gee spotted that the fullback was out of position. Gee kicked over the top on halfway and the ball bounced into the TC 22 before being collected by the chasing Danny Cassidy, who sauntered over untouched and gave Wigan a commanding 17-5 lead.

It was Sam Gee again, putting in a Captain’s effort, who broke down the Wigan right flank. The inside centre sold an audacious dummy to beat his man and went over close to the sticks. Joss Parker added the conversion to take the score at half time to 24-5

The second half started in similar fashion with Wigan taking advantage of Thorton Cleveleys turnovers. Once again Wigan carried the ball deep into TC territory before the ball was played out wide to Owen Threlfall who used his pace to beat the floundering defence from 30 yards out.

Thornton Cleveleys fought back and it wasn’t until the 70 minute mark that Wigan troubled the scorers again. A scrum in the TC 22 was taken on by Jack Dugdale who marked a man of the match performance with a try of his own. Parker added the conversion to take the score to a seemingly unassailable 36-5.

Thorton Cleveleys were playing for pride at this point and added two scores of their own in the dying minutes to bring the final score to 36-19

Wigan can celebrate a hard fought victory whilst Thornton Cleveleys will lament the errors that swung momentum away from them. The scoreline doesn’t reflect how close in quality the sides are, but Wigan were far more clinical on the day and well deserved the glory that comes with a cup final win.