Kingstone Press National Conference League Division Three: West Bowling 38 Dewsbury Celtic 22

WEST Bowling survived a second-half wobble to keep pole position in the title race against a plucky Dewsbury Celtic outfit at Emsley's Rec.

The visitors opened the scoring when former Batley Bulldogs prop forward Liam Walmsley wrestled his way to the chalk, leaving wingman Tom Halloran to tag on the extras.

However, the hosts quickly restored parity when hooker Danny Halmshaw slotted a precision grubber kick behind the line to allow centre Danny Gregory to pounce, stand-off Harry Williams making sure of the conversion to level matters at 6-6.

Wests slipped into top gear when loose forward Olly Bartle changed direction to hand off three defenders at the posts, and wingman Nick Fontaine had the simple task of touching down in the corner following an electrifying passing move from a scrum.

Halloran should have scored from a crossfield bomb to the corner but Bowling made them pay heavily for the mistake by taking a quick restart to roar downfield for Fontaine to show a clean pair of heels and reach the whitewash for his brace.

Williams slotted over his third conversion to see Wests change ends 22-6 up.

The total was further enhanced when full back Ben Heald sold a slow dummy to send three Dewsbury defenders the wrong way shortly after the restart but instead of ramming home their obvious superiority Bowling took their foot off the gas.

Walmsley triggered a fightback when he put full back James Walker over at the flag, and a neat offload put loose forward George Senior in at the uprights, and the alarm bells really started to ring when hooker Josh West collected a kick to pounce for another converted try to narrow the gap to 26-22.

Bowling skipper Richard Lumb put matters back on track, however, leading by example to prise open a gap to put Williams over for a touchdown that he converted himself.

The powerful loose forward then put any thoughts of a shock result to bed when he steamed over four defenders to plough his way to the line for the final hurrah.

Bradford Dudley Hill let their three-quarters do the business in a 36-22 Division Two home win against East Leeds.

Full back Aiden Batey, centres Damian Smith and Daniel Lee, wingman Neil Wall and stand-off Martin Southwell all reached the chalk, with packmen Anthony Lawton and Andrew Walker also making vital contributions.

Hill led 26-12 at the break and Wall ended the contest with mixed feelings after slotting over four conversions to go with spell in the sin bin for dissent.