Stockport 36, Cleckheaton 22

Cleckheaton's pre-match warm-up for yesterday's National League Three North contest didn’t go well when player-coach Pete Murphy pulled up with a injury, although replacement Craig Blackburn stepped in and had a useful game.

In what was a very open game up to half-time, Cleckheaton started well, with some hard work early from the forwards sending Blackburn on a run, only to be stopped short.

But in the eighth minute the backs, in the shape of Tom Lauriston and Nick Wainwright, broke the line for the latter to go in for a try, Ross Hayden converting.

Stockport replied two minutes later with a try from Graham Chenoweth under the posts, Matt Bebbington converting.

Cleckheaton pulled three points back with a penalty from Hayden in the 12th minute but, after scoring chances were lost by both sides, poor Cleckheaton defending let in Steve Pearson for a try, Bebbington converting in the 21st minute.

The visitors had plenty of ball up to half-time, and Blackburn had clear scoring chances, but a lack of finishing power meant that they came to nothing.

For the first 20 minutes of the second half, Stockport were in control, running in a hat-trick of tries from debutant Tom Kelly, to which Bebbington converted one and Pearson another.

Cleckheaton rang the changes and, with Matt Burrows and Andrew Goodman going off and Andrew Piper and Tom Clough coming on, they got their second wind.

In the 65th minute, Clough took the ball in a line-out five metres out and captain Paul Turner went in for a try, Hayden converting from wide out. Cleckheaton looked more enterprising in the last 20 minutes, taking the game to Stockport, but they didn’t have the edge to finish things off, and a late penalty from Pearson made it 36-22.