However the game soon deteriorated into a war of attrition between the opposing sets of forwards, Thornton gaining the upper hand in the scrums with Fleetwood dominating the line-out. James Cameron and Danny Tomlinson ensured a steady supply of ball from this aspect of the game. in the backs neither team could break down the opposition defence although man of the match Chris Clapp was always threatening at scrum half whilst captain Ricky Newton made some bullocking runs.

Fleetwood took the lead after 15 minutes when Michael Dewhirst converted a penalty. this was to be the only score in the first half which saw Tomlinson yellow carded.

The second half continued as the first with neither side really breaking the gain line too often. An injury to Chris Lyons resulted in uncontested scrums which was to prove to Fleetwood's advantage.

The score remained at 3-0 until close to the end when the Thornton players began to tire as Fleetwood used their players off the bench.
A further penalty from Dewhirst was quickly followed by 2 tries in quick succession by Craig Cowley and Danny Maher, neither converted, to give a final score of 16-0 to the visitors.

Fleetwood named Clapp as their man of the match closely followed by Cameron.

Report by Ian Cameron