The pre-match opinion among the cognoscenti was that Wigton would extend their 25-match winning home run to 26. 

The previous week they had scored six tries against much-fancied Vale of Lune with the best performance yet from the current side and the home crowd had gathered with high expectations of a repeat against Wilmslow.

In the former army man, Mark Lee, now married to a Wigton farmer’s daughter, they had acquired a quality number eight but for this game they were missing their influential fly-half David Hanabury through injury.?

And their cause wasn’t helped when their goal kicker, full-back Greg Smith, took a heavy tackle and had to leave the field before half-time.

Despite losing their last two matches, the Wolves hadn’t made the long hike to West Cumbria devoid of hope. 

They’re a close-knit group with good spirit, they seem to like playing together and they believe in their potential. 

That’s a good start. 

They were still missing their first-choice lock Mike Clifford but in Harrison Lewis, Dan Wright, Alex Kaihau and Simon Irving they had plenty of ballast to choose from for the second row and eight positions and none looked out of place.

Players like Lewis and Wright just need game time to fulfil the potential they clearly have. 

Adam Hewitt showed with an energetic performance at six that he is intent on becoming the automatic first-choice for that position, and the same can be said of Max Harvey at hooker. 

The back division was more workmanlike than inspired. 

Plenty of hard straight runners with the ball, reliable in defence but lacking anyone with the footwork and authentic pace to sear through a gap. 

But they did have Bob MacCallum at fly-half.  One second-half blemish aside, when he lost the ball in a tackle which set up the move leading to Wigton’s third try, his was a commanding performance. 

Six successful goal kicks from six attempts, some fine long raking kicks out of defence, whether with or against the wind, decisive tackling, quick passing and always the eye for an opening – you really couldn’t ask anything more of the man. 

While everyone around him made their contribution – it was that type of a game – it was MacCallum, who won it for the Wolves.?Without him they would have been sunk.

Against a steady north easterly breeze, the Wolves were the first to show. 

The scrum was solid, Lewis and Wright were taking lineout ball and there was a vigour about their play as they set about Wigton.

The forwards drove, the backs probed and left winger Lawrence James twice went close but their attacks too often came to an end when they were penalised for holding on.

All they had for their first half’s effort were two MacCallum penalties.

Meanwhile, the home side played to their strengths.  Atkinson and Deans took clean lineout ball, Lee was a handful every time he had the ball – which was often – and they demonstrated excellent ball-retention skills. 

Like the Wolves though, many of their moves were also curtailed by the referee for holding on.

At this stage there was little to choose between the two sides but Wigton went ahead when scrum-half Fergus Ledingham was the first to react and took a short penalty from five yards out to scamper through for a try, converted by the veteran fly-half Tane Manihera.

Briefly, the Wolves went ahead early in the second half with MacCallum’s third penalty but they were then caught out twice in as many minutes when first the hosts capitalised on a penalty to eventually score wide out.?

Then from the restart, MacCallum fielded a loose kick ahead and, feeling he had the space, decided to have a go. 

Unfortunately he ran into heavy traffic and the ball was ripped from his arms.

With spare men out on the right, the home side took full advantage to put second row Deans in under the posts.

Down 19-9 away from home, it didn’t look good and there were fears that it could become a rout.

But the Wolves stood their ground, patiently played their way back into Wigton territory and when they offended on the ground with 10 minutes still to play, there was MacCallum kicking his fourth penalty and the Wolves into range. 

More of the same followed as Wilmslow came again until, three minutes from time, Harvey intercepted a careless pass around the Wigton 10-yard line to bolt away and cross the home line for a score.

MacCallum added the extras to tie things up and the force was now with the Wolves as forwards and backs alike battered their way back up to the Wigton line. 

Referee Jackson awarded the defending side a scrum, the ball was sluggish and Manihera was caught in possession by a posse of marauding Wolves.?

The penalty was conceded and MacCallum took the chance to win it for the Wolves with the last kick of the game.

It had been an enthralling contest between two well matched sides.

Maybe it was hard on the home side to have lost it right at the end but credit has to go to Mike Black’s side for their character in coming back from a 10-point deficit, when all looked lost.

Next week they entertain Vale of Lune in a match which has the potential to be another thriller.