West Bowling pulled off a surprise 26-18 win at high-flying Sharlston Rovers in their final Pennine League outing of the season. Bowling, who have been relegated from the Premier Division, took the lead with a Ben Heald try and conversion and they never looked back.
Ben Cousen and Karl Spring shocked third-placed Rovers further with unconverted touchdowns.
Veteran former BARLA international captain Nigel Halmshaw then raced over on the half-hour mark, leaving Heald to add the extras.
Wests were firmly in the driving seat at 20-6 up when they changed ends and went on to make absolutely sure of the spoils when pack man Cousen roared in for his brace in the second half.
Meanwhile, Clayton stalwart Scott Pendlebury ended his three-year stint as player-coach with a disappointing 44-0 defeat at Slaithwaite Saracens.
It looked like a fairytale ending could be in sight when his scratch side of just 13 players were all square at 0-0 after 20 minutes.
But all hopes were dashed when they were reduced in numbers to finish the game with ten battle-weary bodies with no substitutes to call on.
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