Peterborough Lions celebrate their first win of the season, but disappointment for Peterborough RUFC

The city side have suffered a tough 2019 with relegation from the National League followed by a big exodus of players and an 11-game losing streak at the start of the Midlands Premier Division season.

But Lions claimed their first positive result of the campaign by seeing off Broadstreet 26-22 at Bretton Park on Saturday (December 14).

They remain 20 points from safety at the halfway point of the season ahead of another must-win game at Burton on Saturday (December 21), but Lions’ passionate chairman Andy Moore sees a glimmer of hope.

“We celebrated long into the night on Saturday,” Moore said. “And the players deserves it. It’s been a tough season in a tough competition, but they’ve never stopped trying or competing and they got their reward on Saturday.

“We’ve been threatening a win, but we haven’t quite managed to put in an 80-minute performance. Fitness is a huge thing at this level and we’ve been telling the players to swap cakes for apples to give us more of a chance!

“It was almost the same again on Saturday as we led 26-10 with 15 minutes to go, but the players dug in and held on. I was very proud of them.

“We’ve quietly been attracting some better players to the squad and their commitment has been excellent. We have a group come over from Derby evey Thursday to train in the wind, cold and rain.

“Obviously we face a massive task to stay up. This win just got us back to zero points, but we will give it a go. The main priority is to make sure we are competitive next season no matter what division we are in.”

Roy Lolesio and Asher Veamatahau scored two tries apiece against Broadstreet with Weir Filikitonga kicking three conversions.

Peterborough RUFC suffered a disappointing 28-17 defeat at home to Oadby Wyggestonians in Midlands Division One. They travel to Olney in their final game of 2019 on Saturday.