Cleckheaton take the spoils in tight contest (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Cleckheaton take the spoils in tight contest

4:00pm Sunday 13th January 2013 in Sport By Alan Bentley

Morpeth 19, Cleckheaton 20

Cleckheaton just about deserved the victory in this keenly contested SSE North One East match - but it was very close.

The first quarter of the game was all Cleckheaton, and it appeared that they would run up a big score.

An Iain Gordon penalty and a very well-constructed try from James Marshall, converted by Gordon, put the visitors in the driving seat after 15 minutes.

The home pack had the upper hand in the set scrums, and this advantage was used to the full in creating two tries for centres James Phillips and Ben Hornby, one of which was converted by Matty Jinks.

The first quarter of the second half saw the visitors regain the upper hand but on the hour a Ben Hornby interception try from 50 metres out, converted by Jinks, extended Morpeth's lead.

Cleckheaton dug deep and two tries from Richard Piper and Martin Woodhead, with both conversion attempts from Iain Gordon hitting the post from wide angles, edged them into the lead.

Time was up when Morpeth had the chance to take the spoils.

However, Jinks' penalty effort from 40 metres hit a post and was cleared.