Mixed fortunes as Wigan stay top of table but Orrell lose more ground

Wigan took advantage of some early indiscipline by the visitors as Danny Cassidy stepped up and slotted home a penalty just two minutes in, before John Foster set Chris Carr on his way for a break that led to the opening try.

Carr made good ground before laying the ball up for Adam Pierce, who offloaded in the tackle and Kilian Wallace was on hand to collect the ball and fall over the line.

Cassidy added the conversion for a 10-0 lead after 10 minutes, before Zack Barker allowed Riley Dervan to weave his way between and over the trailing defenders to score Wigan’s second try, Cassidy adding another conversion.

More Tyldesley indiscipline gave Cassidy another shot at goal and Wigan were now 20 points up, and that increased when Harry Barker was hauled down before tipping the ball into the waiting arms of Dervan, who scored from 50 yards.

Cassidy added the conversion for a 27-0 lead at half time, and the situation worsened for Tyldesley when a potentially serious injury to one of their players led to the stretcher being brought on and a lengthy delay.

Tyldesley used the break to galvanise and set about the points deficit, a grubber kick splitting the Wigan back line for their opening score, before their open side flanker bounced his way through two defenders before touching down.

With the conversion added the scores were now 27-12 and, with 10 minutes left, Wigan suffered indiscipline of their own and found themselves down to 14 men with a man in the sin bin.

Tyldesley took advantage of the discrepancy in numbers and pushed an attacking scrum over the line for their third try of the day, with the conversion taking the scores to 27-19 and the Wigan faithful began to get nervous.

However, the home players settled and worked their way into a good attacking position, in search of a fourth try and the subsequent bonus point, and an intentional knock on led to a Wigan penalty.

The quick thinking Zack Barker took a quick tap before weaving through the defence and scoring in the corner, and Wigan defended diligently in the final moments, denying Tyldesley a bonus point of their own, before Danny Cassidy rounded off the scoring with a penalty kick.

Wigan remain top of the table, and look forward to a week off before making the trip to Bolton on November 30.

Meanwhile, Orrell went down to a 30-20 defeat against Fleetwood.

Two penalties from Craig Thomas saw Orrell trailing 8-6 at the interval, and the cause wasn't helped when Matt Johnson was yellow-carded within a minute of the restart.

However, Thomas converted his own try five minutes later to put Orrell in front at 13-8.

That was as good as it got, though, as Fleetwood crossed for three tries of their own, before Kieran Herbert scored a consolation try for Orrell four minutes into stoppage-time.