It was case of so near and yet so far for Blackpool Scorpions as they slipped to a narrow home defeat against Cumbrian side Roose Pioneers.
The home were again forced into number of personnel changes as injuries continued to take their toll, with the side welcoming back Phil Gamble, Dave Evans, Bob Goodall and Lewis Wenham whilst handing a first team debut to promising youngster Steve Stollery.

An error and penalty strewn opening saw Blackpool struggle to get out of their own half with only some excellent scrambling defence from Danny Barr, Max Rossall and Keith Potter keeping the visitors from crossing. The first half deadlock was broken after twenty minutes as an infringement by the hosts allowed Roose to slot over an easy penalty for a 2- 0 advantage.

As the first half continued an extremely lop sided penalty count saw Blackpool having to defend set after set on their own line with only some terrific try tackles from John Parker, Karl Davies and Luke Valente amongst preventing the Pioneers from crossing on more than one occasion. Unfortunately the weight of pressure exerted by the visitors eventually told as they forced their way over for a try to build a six point lead. With the half drawing to an end Scorpions almost snatched a try back as fantastic break downfield by Lewis Wenham nearly resulted in a score for the hosts.

The second half began in much the same vein as the first for Blackpool as a massive penalty count in favour of the visitors allowed them to virtually lay siege to the Scorpions line with only more superb try saving tackles from Antony Clark, Ryan Fuller and Joe Bullock stopping Roose extending their lead. After weathering wave after wave of Pioneer attacks, the hosts finally began to establish a foothold in the game keeping the visitors pinned in their own half with some intelligent kicking and robust defending. The game was then held up for 25 minutes as the Pioneers hooker suffered a horrific broken leg in a tackle which required immediate emergency medical treatment and a trip to Blackpool Victoria hospital.

Once play resumed Scorpions pulled a try back as great work from Brett Whitehead and Phil Gamble released winger Ben Simpson who powered down the touchline to score and narrow the gap between the teams to only two points. With the game hanging in the balance both sides knew that the next score would be crucial and unfortunately it went the way of the visitors as some poor defending in the middle allowed the Pioneers to race away for a long range try despite the best efforts of Clark and Potter who raced back over half the length of pitch to try and prevent the score. Scorpions continued to battle away hoping to grab a converted try that would give them a draw, but regrettably there was no last minute heroics as time ran out with a final scoreline of 4 – 10.

Again no one could fault the level of effort or commitment on show from the entire Scorpions team; but they seemed to lack a cutting edge in a game that was there for the taking. Blackpool will be hoping to get back on the winning track next week when the club plays host to Bold Miners.

Team: Lewis Wenham, Antony Clark, Keith Potter, Phil Gamble, Ben Simpson, Brett Whitehead, Joe Bullock, Karl Davies, Marc Skelton, Ryan Fuller, Max Rossall, Danny Barr, Luke Valente

Subs: Dave Evans, John Parker, Steve Stollery, Bob Goodall

Tries: Ben Simpson

Goals: Davies 0/1