Cleckheaton came up just short at Bradford & Bingley in their first ever Yorkshire Cup final, played in front of more than 800 fans.

The Moorenders, whose

previous best was the semi-finals two years ago, were pressing hard at the end of a sunny but chilly evening but could not get the try that would have at least forced extra time.

"Halifax probably deserved to win," said Cleckheaton skipper Mark Billington. "But if we had played like we did in the last 20 minutes at the start of the second half we would have had a really good chance but we left it too late. However, we missed John Dudley when he went off with a dislocated shoulder in the first half, and flanker Geoff Jones was missing too. But our really big match was three weeks ago when we beat Tynedale to stay up."

Halifax coach Kevin McCallion was proud to have added to their status as the top Yorkshire Cup side of all time.

He said: "We had seven players out and I was particularly pleased with our defence. We showed determination in bucketloads."

Their 13th triumph - they also won in 2004 - came courtesy of tries from centre Richard Hughes and lock Craig Wilson and three penalties by Aaron Canning.

Cleckheaton got a late try from hooker Steve Worsley and three

penalties by fly half Glen Boyd.