St Joseph's 12

West Bowling 17

Hooker Dean Garside put himself in the right place at the right time to grab two tries and put West Bowling on course for a well-earned win in their Division One encounter at St Joseph's.

The famous Fartown ground still echoes to the feats of past rugby league legends, despite the stand having been demolished and the terraces overgrown.

The venue certainly inspired Bowling's former Salford Reds and Keighley Cougar second- row forward Ricky Helliwell, who cut the defence to shreds when he powered on to a short ball after only two minutes.

He committed full back Ben Lewis to the tackle and put out a peach of a pass to the supporting Garside, who was left with the formality of planting the ball under the uprights, leaving loose forward Craig Hillam a simple conversion.

Prop Danny Yorke was to the fore with his determined running and neat off-loads as the Bowling pack made the hard yards but they breathed a sigh of relief when full back Shaun Tordoff pulled off a legs-and-all try-saving tackle on the Saints' lively wingman Richard Aka when he was in full flight.

Helliwell chastised the hosts once again when he side- stepped his way out of the ruck and raced clear.

He fed Garside on the inside and the hooker was rewarded for his unselfish backing up when he dived over to put Wests into the sheds 10-0 up.

St Joseph's were first out of the blocks on the re-start and Tordoff booted the ball dead with stand-off James Forlan breathing down his neck.

Saints' pressure finally told when second-row forward Graham Hyland brushed aside an Anthony Green tackle to power in at the posts, Forlan adding the extras.

But Bowling scrum half Ashley Wood prised open a gap and Hillam cut inside the cover to dive over the whitewash and slotted the conversion to put his side into clear water at 16-6.

Joes were far from finished and the match went back into the melting pot when Forlan crossed and added the extras.

Bowling at last made the game safe when Hillam landed a drop goal in injury-time.