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Alarm bells as sad Eccles lose again

28/11/2002

RL: National Conference One - Eccles 6 Thatto Heath 22

ALARM bells are ringing as Eccles slip to another defeat, which leaves them hovering three points above the relegation places.

Defeat by the league leaders means that Eccles remain in 10th place on a day where the top seven sides beat the bottom seven.

But on this performance, considering the number of players wo still have to return, this side are too good to be relegated.

Eccles opened the scoring in the fourth minute when Paul Rafferty popped the ball up for John McAtee to go around the posts. Dean Pickup converted.

Thatto levelled in the 17th minute before Eccles had two tries unluckily ruled out. First, John Durkin was ruled to be held up, then Steve Morley was penalised for a double movement. Thatto also got across the try line, but were pulled up for a forward pass.

The half ended on a sour note when Jason Viller was sin-binned on 32 minutes for a professional foul.

It seemed that Eccles had weathered the storm, holding Thatto down to 12 men, but on 45 minutes the visitors scored another converted try.

A further unconverted try in the 57th minute put the St Helens side 16-6 in front.

Any chance of an Eccles revival was almost ended after McAtee complained about the one-sided penalty count against Eccles but fortunately, Woods missed the kick for Thatto.

Eccles battled valiantly and forced a drop-out on 74 minutes. But the final say went to the league leaders, who scored two minutes from time to give the scoreline a more flattering look.

Carlo Napolitano was Eccles' top tackler and Neil Hayden was voted man of the match.