National League Three North: Wirral 36 Cleckheaton 8

CLECKHEATON made a promising start at fifth-placed Wirral and were leading at the interval but mistakes and penalties gave the home side the advantage, and they scored four unanswered second-half tries to run away with the scoreline.

Good pressure from the visitors' forwards ten minutes in earned them a five-metre scrum, and fast hands along the back line seconds later gave Michael Hayward a chance to sprint in at the corner and twist his way to the line.

Hayward was also involved in Cleckheaton’s next score after making a 50-metre break upfield.

The visitors recycled well but were illegally prevented from getting the ball out quickly, and Ronan Evans added a penalty goal to give Cleckheaton an 8-0 advantage.

On the half-hour, Wirral responded when scrum half Joe Murray went in for an unconverted try.

Cleckheaton had to weather a storm when Matt Piper received a yellow card for not releasing after the referee had issued a team warning for several contact-area transgressions.

To make matters worse, Ryan Piercy was also sin-binned five minutes later when he tried to intercept a Wirral pass but the ball went to ground.

The referee deemed the incident to be deliberate and reduced Cleckheaton to 13 men. However, they kept Wirral out until half-time and changed ends with an 8-5 lead having had the advantage of the wind.

The second half was a combination of Cleckheaton coughing up possession too cheaply and Wirral converting all the chances that this gave them into points.

Firstly a box kick was charged down just inside Cleck’s half, with the ball landing right in the bread basket of Wirral’s appropriately named pacy winger Chris Speed for a try to give them the lead, Dan Harvey converting.

Replacement James Reeve then scored with his first touch if the bal before back-rower Rob Pearl then got his toe to a loose ball and chased upfield.

A wicked bounce wrong-footed Cleckheaton’s defender, and Pearl kicked on again before diving on the ball in the in-goal area for a converted try, a bonus point and a 24-8 lead.

Cleckheaton were deflated but mustered a couple of good breaks upfield via Luke Pearson and Jack Seddon, although they were unable to turn them into tries.

For Wirral, the opposite was true and two more long-range forays into Cleckheaton territory garnered them 12 more points via tries by Ali Baker, converted by Harvey, and Mark Williams, and left Cleckheaton well beaten and still without an away win this season.