WHITCHURCH brought the curtain down on 2023 with a 14-13 defeat at home to Bowdon in division two of the North West League on Saturday.
High flying Bowdon were stunned as the home side started the game in sparkling style and were ahead after seven minutes through a catch and drive finished off by Callum Southall.
Robbie Leighton narrowly missed the conversion but made up for it a few minutes later when he kicked a difficult penalty to give the Shropshire men an 8-0 lead at half time.
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Bowdon started the second half much brighter and after a series of penalties managed to cross the home line close in and the conversion left just one point between the two sides.
Whitchurch immediately responded with a long period of possession which culminated in a pushover try scored by Jake Rees with Leighton's conversion attempt striking the post.
The game was still in the balance with just the six points separating the sides.
It was end to end and both sides had opportunities to score but the drama was killed by several baffling decisions by the referee.
Close to the end of the match, a messy maul was adjudged to have been pulled down by the Reds and Luca Owen-Younds was yellow carded.
The penalty to Bowdon was quickly taken and touched down under the posts and the easy conversion put the visitors ahead by one point with just minutes to play.
Whitchurch played the last few phases of the game with passion but no further scores were forthcoming as Bowdon departed victorious.
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